Paraplegic in Pink
by MaeMacIntosh
Summary: A suprise goes terribly wrong and now one ranger has to learn to look at the world from a whole new perspective...
1. A Cooking Accident

**A/N: Hi! I have been editing/rewriting all of my previous fics, and it has been so much fun! I love re-reading all of my old work, and it is amazing to see how much my style has changed. I'm keeping all of the old A/N's and Disclaimers because I think that they are hilarious. Re-reading my old work is like going through a long-lost journal. It is always weird to hear what you from two to three years ago sounded like! I hope you enjoy this, and always don't forget to leave me a comment on what you would like to see happen or on anything I can do to improve!**

**A/N: Hello, and welcome to my Fic! I am so happy to have you here, and now that the cheesy introduction is over, I'll skip right ahead to the disclaimer and begin!**

**Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is Power Rangers! Too early? Yeah, I know. Not even Thanksgiving yet. Sorry. I don't own them, but I really wish I did!**

"Okay, so it's kinda a long story. I need to go back to the beginning to do it justice. I was in the kitchen, baking a cake for Antonio's birthday when the gap sensor went off. The monsters always show up whenever I am cooking! You know, this is why my recipes always get spoiled!"

"Yeah, that's why they get spoiled!"

"Shut up! You're just a picky eater!" Mia glares at her younger brother across the room as she lays on a hospital bed with burns, back pains, and an IV stuck up her arm after a battle gone wrong. Mentor insisted she get her injuries, inflicted by the latest monster during a battle gone wrong, checked out by a medical professional. Of course her younger brother, who interns at the hospital, found out that she was there, and rushed down to find out what really happened. He knew better than to believe the that Mia blew up the stove, though it wouldn't be that far fetched. She may or may not have already done that once or twice before.

Terry rolls his eyes, "Ok, sis. Whatever. Just get on with the story before the doctor gets back."

"Fine." Mia continues, "Ok, so we all run into the living room where Ji pulls up the map on the table, and see where the attack is..."

"That thing is so cool!" he interrupts, "When Ji wasn't looking I messed with it. Did you know that you can make it so that little dots appear where each of you are? It's totally color coded!"

"Wait, really? I didn't know it could do that!" Now Mia is intrigued.

"Yeah, if you tap it on the bottom after the map pops up, you can make the little dots appear! It was awesome! Wait, let's go back to the story."

"Ok, but later you'll be telling me more about what you found out!" Terry smiles and nods his head, so Mia continues, "So, once we find that the monster is in the park, we all run out there to battle. When we got there the monster, Regnessap, greets us with a bunch of blasts our way..."

_"Ah, rangers! Have you come to have some fun? 'Cause I'm having a blast!" Regnessap yelled as he shot three more blasts their way from his cannon. All of the rangers easily dodged his attack and prepared to counter._

"He had a blue body the shape of a yam with a green tuff of what appeared to be army green, braided hair that stood straight up on top. In the midst of the green mess, two black holes with red dots in the center appeared to be his eyes, and a mouth was nowhere to be found. One of his arms is shaped like am cannon and the other shaped like a sword..."

_"You'll never get away with whatever you are doing here nighlock!" Kevin screamed._

_"You should have more faith in me, blue! Moogers attack!"_

"Once he called the moogers, the battle began. Jayden and I took Regnessap, and everyone else took on the moogers. We weren't having much trouble..."

_Regnessap uses his sword arm to fight off both of the rangers. They parry his attacks with ease._

"But then he reminded us that one of his arms was a cannon..."

_Their swords clash one more time, but Regnessap sneaks his cannon under their swords a shoots Mia in the chest, causing her to demorph. This engulfs her unprotected body in flames and propels her across the park, and slams her back into a tree._

So, now I'm here." she gestures painfully to her burnt chest.

"Nice job, sis!" Terry sarcastically laughs and gives her a thumbs up. The nurse walks into the room just as he does this.

"Give your sister a break," she scolds, "Accidents like these happen all the time."

"Uh..." Terry and Mia share a look of shock. They wonder how much of Mia's story had she hear.

Cautiously, Terry continues, "They do?"

"You would be surprised how many cooking accidents we see here daily." The siblings let out a sigh of relief. "However, you are the first person I've had blow themselves up in quite some time."

"It's her specialty!" Terry pipes in.

"Now Terry..." the nurse begins, but Mia cuts her off.

"It's fine. He gets smart when I'm sick or injured, but whenever I recover, I swiftly remind him which one of us has the black belt and which one had their underwear pulled over their head from kindergarten to senior year of high school."

"MIA!" Terry screams, "She's the niece of the doctor in charge of me and the other interns!"

"Sweety, you walked right into that one!" the nurse says. Mia gives her a weak high five and she gets down to business, "Are the pain meds working?"

"Yeah," she yawns, "I'm starting to feel kinda tired, though. Is that supposed to happen?"

"Yes, drowsiness is a side effect of the pain meds. You should close your eyes for a minute and rest. I'm going to do my thing and then after I leave, the doctor will come in and talk to you about your condition. Okay?"

"Okay," Mia replies drowsily. The nurse squeezes Mia's hand and walks out as she sinks into the hospital bed. Before she falls asleep she looks over at her brother and says, "We should probably not talk about my "job" while we are here. We never know when someone will walk through that door." Terry agrees just as Mia begins to nod off into a deep sleep.

After several hours, Mia finally wakes up to the doctor discussing something over a file with her brother. Mia moans and attempts to sit up in the bed, with little success. The doctor and Terry realize that she woke up and go over to help her sit up. As she groggily rubs her eyes with her non-IV hand, the doctor begins his typical doctor speech.

"Well, Miss Watanabe, I've got some good news and some bad. Which would you like first?"

"The good," she replies.

He takes a breath and begins, "Well, the good news is that you only have first degree burns, so you will have little to no scarring. The bad news is that it looks like you will not be able to do your martial arts for at least two months.

"What?" she exclaims.

"Your MRI shows that you have a spinal fracture in your T10 vertebrae in your lower back. It is minor, so will not require surgery or much rehab. You are lucky. Many people with spinal chord fractures don't get to walk again. I am fairly certain you will be able to walk out of this room in about an hour or so upon your release. However, you will need to wear a brace."

Terry lets out a laugh, "Mia in a brace? This will be interesting."

"Great," Mia sarcastically replies, ignoring Terry, "Just great. So, what will this thing look like?"


	2. False Blame

**Disclaimer: We know I don't own Power Rangers and THANK GOODNESS I do not own "Turn Down For What?"! My friends think that song is the best, I think it is an overplayed headache!**

**A/N: On a happier note, new chapter! Thanks to everyone who read the last one! Enjoy!**

"I can't believe I'm stuck in this thing for over a month!" Mia whines. As she pouts, she fiddles with her brace. In the front, it covered her stomach and came just under her breasts. Then there a bar goes from the middle of brace and connects to a triangularly shaped pad, which lays just below her collarbone. Two straps which cross in the back are attached to the pad and the back of the brace, which spans almost her entire back.

"Stop complaining or I'll make you walk!" Terry snaps. He knew from the moment he saw her x-rays she was not going to react well, yet he underestimated his sister after her seemingly mild reaction in the hospital. She barely even flinched when she saw it, but once she got into the passenger's seat of his car the complaints came flying out faster than a cheetah on steroids. "You seriously haven't shut up since the moment you sat down in this car!"

Mia purses her lips and says, "Well, Mike's going to have a field day with this, and I'm not looking forward to that!"

"Hate to break it to you, Sis, but I've seen way worse. Guess who the unlucky victim of the injuries were? Hmm...her name is on the top of my tongue. Oh, wait a minute! The victim was you!"

She sighs, "Terry, can I just vent for a minute?"

"Fine, but first," he turns on the radio which is playing "Turn Down For What?" and turns the volume up to full blast. Over the music he screams, "OKAY! GO AHEAD AND VENT!"

"WHAT?"

"EXACTLY!"

"I CAN'T HEAR..." she stops mid sentence realizing her brother's intent. She spins the dial down all the way, turning off the radio. "Not funny."

Terry rolls his eyes, "Well, if you didn't whine so much maybe I wouldn't have to do that."

"It hurts, I'm tired, and I know I'm about to enter a two months of boredom and once I get home I have to pretend that everything is okay because the others are going to have their hands full." she pouts. She takes in a few short, painful breaths and then the tears begin to roll. "I slipped up, and now the team is going to pay the price. I'm stuck on the sidelines while the nighlock are getting stronger and more clever. They should be focused on ending this war, not making up for my mistakes!" As she silently cries, she avoids her brother's eyes by glancing out the passenger's side window.

Terry, recognizing his sister's habit of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, sighs, "Mia, it's not your fault. What were you supposed to do?"

"Not explode," she grumbles.

Terry chuckles, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure the combustions is the monster's job, but how were you planning on avoiding this one in the heat of the battle?"

"I should have paid attention. If I did, I would have been able to dodge it."

"And let Jayden blow up instead?" Terry counters. Mia is silent. He continues, "Sis, I think that if it had been Jayden instead of you, you and I would be having a very similar conversation. The world will not end because you stepped left instead of right."

"When I am fighting to save the world from annihilation, it very well could happen!" she snaps. Knowing that nothing he says will change his stubborn sister's mind, Terry takes a little detour that goes unnoticed by Mia. While he heads to his alternate destination, he tries to change the topic.

"Remember the time when we were little, and you had just learning symbol power?" he asked. She does not respond, but he continues, "You were trying to figure out the symbol for wind all on your own, and were practicing it, to show Mom. Keep in mind that this was maybe an hour or so after she told you to stick to her lesson plan for the time being and not to experiment with any symbols aside from the ones she had taught you, but you were bored with those symbols. Who wouldn't be after performing them perfectly once?" Terry chuckles at his own joke, but it goes unnoticed by his sister. With a huff, he continues, "You got this one right on the first try, but you didn't expect for there to be any recoil. You blew yourself off the ground, up onto the roof. You then rolled off and fell, breaking your arm. I will have to admit, that was the funniest fail I have ever seen!" He looks back over at his sister, who still sits silently. "Didn't you say Emily was kind of a klutz too? I mean, the wind thing was funny, but she could make a whole boulder that could pummel the whole town on accident! Also, what about Jayden? With the fire, I'm sure he's burnt his eyebrows off on more than one occasion!"

"Emily once almost flattened Kevin and Mike on accident. She was practicing the symbol for boulder. Plus Mike once made a banzai attack Ji, but that was on purpose." Mia responds in a barely audible whisper. Despite that, Terry perks up when he hears it.

"So, how about Kevin or Jayden? I bet Antonio has goofed a couple of times! He doesn't have the proper training!"

"No, nothing I've seen at least." Mia finally notices that the path has changed and asks, "Terry, where are we going?"

"In all of my years of training to be the successful doctor I am today…"

"Your an unpaid intern. Get to the point," Mia reminds him.

"Fine, Grumpy! You're down, and normally when a patient feels this way, Doctor Sam will go to this place and pick up a dozen of their freshly baked, homemade doughnuts! They are the best in town and always make people smile. Do you want to go in with me, or do you want to stay here, and I'll bring them out?" Terry asks.

Mia affords herself a small smile and replies, "I'll stay here. I'm still kinda tired, you know?" He nods and jogs inside. Mia rests her head on the window and revisits the battle in her head. Over and over again she watches, trying to figure out what she did wrong. _"One step to the left? No, then Jayden would've gotten hit. Ducking to the right? No, then one of the others could've gotten hurt. At least that one would've taken a few moogers with it! Focus. Is there a symbol I should have used? I don't know one I could've written that fast. What did I do wrong?"_

Terry returns with the baked goods and places the box right on Mia's lap giving her first pick. She grabs a chocolate on chocolate and begins to nibble on it. Terry grabs a regular glazed and turns on the radio, but instead of the ruckus he had playing before he switches it to another station. A slow, acoustic song plays while the two siblings sit quietly, munching on the pastries as they stare out the front window at the cars speeding away on the road across from the parking lot. They all seem to be going somewhere. No one worrying about anything but their own lives. No one concerned about the consequences that will surely follow the morning's events. No one realizing the sacrifice done in their names and no one caring one bit.

**A/N: Just so you know, I was thinking of the Donjoy Dual TLSO Back Brace when describing the one that Mia is stuck in. I know someone who had to wear that one for similar reasons (No, they were not fighting nighlocks! I meant similar as in injury wise!).**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! I'm building up to the big chapter where everything goes down. That will either be the next chapter or the one after that. I really hope you are liking it so far! Please Review!**


	3. The Bridge

**A/N: Hey, I'm going to be alternating between posting chapters for this story, and my other story, The Untold Truth. I will try to post a chapter a week for at least one of them. I am having some family stuff going on, so that is probably not going to be the case. Please read both of my fics and please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked, Son of a Witch, or Gregory Maguire. I also do not own Power Rangers or Harry Potter. I do own Fernando. (As I re-read over this fic, I realize how weird that last bit sounded. I kept it for you to enjoy the awkwardness of it!)**

Kevin dodges an attack and counters with a roundhouse kick that his green opponent nearly escapes. Mike throws a sloppy punch, which Kevin takes advantage of. He grabs hold of Mike's arm, spins him around, and twists his arm behind his back.

"That's enough," Ji commands. Kevin releases Mike and the two face Ji. "That was good. Mike, if you put a little less force behind your attack and worried more about precision, that match would have ended much differently. As for you, Kevin, your accuracy is practically perfect. You need to worry less, and fight more. You can not plan your moves if it means distracting you from the present match. I'm going to go check on Emily and Jayden on the punching bag. Continue sparring, but don't kill each other." Mike smirks and turns to face Kevin. As Mentor walks inside, he notices a potted plant floating over the door slowly making its way across the training yard. He chuckles to himself and redirects his path to the pink ranger. She sits awkwardly on a stool in front of the counter by the grill. Her samuraizer is pointed at the bonsai and slowly moves pulls it towards herself, gently guiding the plant without spilling a spec of soil. He quietly stands next to her without making a sound. She successfully pulls the plant over Mike and Kevin and makes it land on her lap. She smiles to herself, yet she has a sad look in her eyes. Ji slips onto the seat next to her. Ji picks up the plant and says, "It has been quite some time since I have seen someone use symbol power to levitate something. You are attempting some very difficult symbols with ease."

"Well, that's what happens when you can't do anything else for a whole month," she mumbles, "I can't believe that it's only halfway over! Feels like forever."

Ji rolls his eyes at her exaggeration and replies, "Well, while I have nothing against pushing your limits, could I make a request?" Mia nods. "Please refrain from pushing your limits over your team mate's heads. We don't need any more rangers in the hospital."

Mia blushes and sheepishly murmurs, "Yeah, sorry."

"It's fine, but I want my bonsai back in one piece when you are done." Hearing this she just smiles. Ji stands up and walks inside. Mia longingly looks over to Kevin and Mike sparring. She sighs and bitterly turns back to the plant. She puts the plant on the counter and pokes it with her samuraizer.

"I am so board!" she mumbles to herself. She continues to float the plant several more times without breaking it. "You're a wizard, Mia!" she chuckles, "I wonder if Harry Potter ever got bored with magic. It seems so cool, but I'm essentially doing magic, and it's putting me to sleep!"

Mike and Kevin walk inside discussing lunch . Mia looks down at her watch and sees that it is 3:00 pm. "Well, I guess I sat here all day making a plant fly. Very productive, Mia." she sarcastically jokes to herself. She cautiously guides herself off the stool and walks inside.

On her way to the kitchen, Mia hears Jayden in a heated argument on the land line phone in the living room. She quietly moves to the open door to eavesdrop. Just before she can hear anything interesting, Jayden hangs up. She tries to walk away as fast as she can, but thanks to the brace, she does not get very far.

"Mia!" Jayden says, shocked to see her there. She stops in her tracks.

"Who were you talking to in there?" she asks.

"No one important. You don't have to worry," Jayden replies.

Mia purses her lips and retorts, "We both know that the land line means nothing good, Jayden. We are not supposed to use that unless it is an emergency. Anyways, it sounded like something serious."

Jayden sighs, "Mia, it is nothing like that. I need you to not tell Ji I was using that, okay? Nothing bad. Just, since Antonio is off fishing, I was making a call regarding his birthday present. I am trying to get him this lure for his birthday. Some fishing company started making one that looks just like the octo zord. The issue is that apparently it is in high demand, and the store owner who is saving it for me threatened to sell it if I don't show up within the week. I try to go, but the shop is all the way across town, and every time I sneak off to go pick it up, a nighlock attacks!"

"I'll go for you. Just give me the information and call ahead so he knows that I'll be picking it up. It's not like I have anything else to do," Mia offers.

"No, it's too far. Walking all the way down there would not be good for your back," Jayden retorts.

"I'll take the bus. It'll be fine! I have nothing to do, and you and I both know that you'll never get down there on your own! Just give me the address," Mia pleads.

"Fine!" he says, "I'll get you the address after lunch. Then I'll call ahead, but how are you going to get Mentor to let you go?"

"I've been meaning to go to the library to return a book I borrowed. I'm sure he'll let me out of one practice in order to preserve my library card. One more overdue book and the librarian will deactivate it! Now that I have nothing to do, this card essentially provides me with a sliver of sanity."

Jayden laughs, "Ok, that's a good plan, but I think you're exaggerating a bit!"

Mia bluntly replies, "You go one whole month where the only activity you can do aside from reading is writing one symbol on a piece of paper over and over and over and over and over and…"

"I get it!" Jayden interrupts, "Symbol power is boring." He chuckles and gently wraps his arm around her shoulder. They walk into the kitchen chatting about the boringness of symbol power, and what Harry Potter would think about their opinion. Like a gentleman, Jayden pulls out a stool and helps Mia up onto it. Then he hops into the seat next to her.

"So, Kev, what's on today's menu?" Mia asks.

"I was thinking a chicken salad." He replies.

Mike interjects, "I was thinking a couple slices of pizza."

"Pizza is not a part of a samurai diet." Kevin interjects. Mia and Jayden roll their eyes as Kevin and Mike go off about what a "proper samurai" should eat. Jayden sneaks behind the two pulls out some jelly from the refrigerator. Then he goes to the cabinets and gets some peanut butter, bread, and two plates. He makes two sandwiches and grabs a banana for each of them, and finally he puts a stack of baby carrots on the side. He then pours two glasses of chocolate milk. He slides one plate and one glass over to Mia and keeps the other for himself. Mia thanks him. Jayden then turns to Mike and Kevin and clears his throat.

"This is what I call a balanced diet. Not a heart attack in a box, but also, not a stack of tofu. I left the ingredients out if you would like to duplicate it. I am also here if you need me to give you instructions, but I honestly hope you two know how to make a PB 'n' J!" Jayden joked. The guys grumble and begin making their sandwiches. Emily pops in just in time.

"Hey! What's for lunch?" she asks.

"PB 'n' J, banana, carrots, and chocolate milk. The stuff is already out, so just make your own," Jayden replies. She nods and skips behind the counter to starts making her meal. Jayden picks up his napkin and pulls a pen out of his pocket. He scribbles something down on it and passes it over to Mia under the counter. She glances down at it and sees the address for the shop. She gives him a wink and finishes up her meal. She puts her dishes in the dishwasher and begins to walk out, but Ji, who walks in just at that moment, stops her before she can leave.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

She replies, "Library. I have to turn in a book or else the librarian is going to deactivate my card. The nighlocks normally get in the way of my to do list, library included."

"How are you planning on getting there?" he counters.

"Bus," she answers.

Satisfied, he smiles and says, "Be quick and be careful."

"I will, Ji." As she walks away she catches Jayden's eye. He gives her a grateful smile. She goes to her room and picks up the copy of, Wicked, off her bedside table and walks outside. "I didn't lie to him, I just didn't tell him the full story," she thinks to herself as she makes her way to the bus stop.

Once the bus arrives she climbs in and hands her fare to the driver. As she makes her way to the back, she notices two people sitting next to each other in the fourth row. One was a large bald man with pale skin and a kind face, who looked to be in his thirties. The next was a scrawny teenager with long, spiked up hair. Both are dressed as if they are members of a biker gang, but there is an unseen goofiness about them that makes them look less threatening than they probably intended. Mia recognizes them from the battles. They are infamous around the rangers for being in the wrong place at the wrong time every time. Mia smiles, sits down in a seat, and stares out the window as the bus begins to move. She watches as the buildings and the people go by. Everyone seems to have a place to be.

"Hey! What happened to you?" the bald man asks.

"Long story short, my oven blew up," Mia replies.

"That sounds painful!" the teen interjects.

Mia laughs, "Yeah, it kinda was."

The bus stops right outside a very large, stone building with big pillars and a huge set of stairs leading up to the elegant front doors: The Panorama Library. Mia climbs up the staircase and opens up the big, mahogany doors. As she passes the librarian, she smiles and waves.

"Hi, Miss Margaret!" Mia exclaims

"I see you have finally turned in a book on time. What's the occasion, Ms. Watanabe?" she sneers. When she does this her beak-like nose and crow eyes pinch up towards her tight grey bun.

Pretending not to notice the malice, Mia shrugs and says, "Well, I hurt my back, so I didn't have any of the regular chores to get in my way. Have you read this book? I think that it is really interesting. I saw the musical when it came to town…"

"I do not care for small talk, Miss Watanabe," she interrupts, "Just give me the book and be on your way." Mia reluctantly does so with a smile and walks back to the "M" section of the fiction area of the library. She gets down on her knees, as she can not bend over due to the brace, and runs her pointer finger across the spines of the books until she reaches "Gregory Maguire." She looks at the spines of the books with his name on it until she finds the sequel to Wicked, Son of a Witch. "Very punny," she thinks. Mia grabs the book off the shelf and with one hand on the shelf, she eases herself up. She turns and walks back to Miss Margaret. She holds the book out and the librarian begrudgingly stamps it.

"Have a nice day, Miss Margaret!" Mia cheerfully says. The old lady merely rolls her eyes. As Mia walks out she thinks to herself, "Who put crabapples in her lunch?" She pulls the address out of her pocket and takes a look at it. Once she figures out where she is going she heads down the street towards the little shop. She reaches a bridge with a sidewalk on one side and begins to cross. The moment she does, the potent smell of fish reaches her nose. "This is defiantly a place where Antonio would hand out!" she thinks to herself. She keeps walking down the road until she reaches a little shack with a sign outside that says, "Fernando's Fishing Depot." She pushes open the little door and gets hit in the face with the foul smell of fish and bait. Her stomach churns at the thought of the hundreds of worms that lurk inside. Mia tells herself to keep her composure and walks over to the counter, past the fishing poles and the reels.

The man at the counter looks up and nonchalantly asks, "Can I help you, little lady?"

"Yeah, my friend, Jayden, called in a while ago. He sent me here to pick up a golden lure for our friend's birthday," she answers.

"Ah, yes. I know what you are talking about," he says as he picks up a small box and reveals the octo zord lure with two hooks on the bottom hidden in the tentacles. Mia smiles and gives him the money thanking him. "Sweetie, what happened to your back? Your friend told me that a girl would come in wearing a back brace ands would pick up the lure, but he never said how you ended up in the brace."

Mia chuckles to herself and repeats the story she has told everyone who asked, "I blew myself up." The look of shock on the guy's face was priceless. Mia started to laugh even harder.

"How on earth did you do that, little lady?" he exclaims.

"Cooking," she replies, "and my name is Mia." She holds her hand out to shake his. He clasps hers with his strong, callused mitts and smiles.

"Fernando. I know your friend, Antonio, which is why I reserved the lure for your friend. Normally I don't do that," he says, "You, little lady…I mean Mia, need to keep out of trouble. No more explosions, ok?"

"In my line of work, that's kind of hard to do!" she exclaims without realizing it.

Immediately interested, Fernando asks, "What is your line of work?"

Mia stammers, "Uh…well…actually I'm a chemistry major at Panorama Tech." Mia fiddles with her bracelet. _"Not a lie, I'm just taking the online courses for the time being,"_ she thinks to herself.

"So, let me get this straight. You go to class and are around dangerous chemicals all day and the place where you blow yourself up is at home cooking?" he says in disbelief. Mia shrugs. Fernando begins to belly laugh. "I like you kid. If you are ever with Antonio, feel free to stop by!" Mia nods and walks out of the shop.

She begins to walk towards the bus stop when she hears a scream. A short distance from the shop, she sees a massive figure in a dark trench coat grab a little boy from his mother and run away. Mia, ignoring her back, sprints after him. The boy kicks and thrashes at the man, which allows Mia to catch up. She holds up her book and slams it into the head of the man. This loosens his grip and enables the boy to break free and run to his mother. The man angrily turns to face Mia.

"You shouldn't have done that, little girl!" he growls. "Now, you're going to pay!"

He launches himself at her and grabs her hair. Mia tries to fight him off but the brace stops her from doing anything very effective. He rips the book out of her hand and tosses it aside. She then takes multiple punches to the face. He releases her and she stumbles back. Just before she could attack, he hoists her up and throws her off of the bridge. The moment she hits the water, everything goes black.

**A/N: Hey, guess what is directly under my author's note, is big, and has plenty of space for your ideas, comments, ect.? My good friend Mr. Review Box! He is getting lonely, so could you please put your ideas there so he won't feel neglected? THANK YOU!**


	4. Constants

**A/N: So, after editing the next chapter, I felt like this scene should be its own chapter. I know my style of writing makes for really short chapters, but I like to write in moments and I feel like this moment separated itself from the rest of the chapter in a way that the divider line could not do justice to. I hope you like it! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Y'all know the drill. All rights belong to Saban.**

* * *

Mia's eyes snap open as she coughs up murky water. It pours all over her shirt, but she does not care. Pain courses through her body like blood. Something beats on her back. In a half-hearted attempt to find the cause, she turns to see a blurry figure attempting to talk to her. She can not make out any of its words. Suddenly, more figures surround her. They lift her up and strap her to a white board, thwarting any of her futile attempts of escape. They lift her up and carry her a ways until they reach a white vehicle. They place her inside and force a clear mask over her nose and mouth. Slowly, she fades off into a deep sleep.

* * *

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Mia hears this sound, but struggles to get her eyes open to find the source.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

She hears several voices whispering unintelligible words.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Frustrated, she forces her eyes to crack open a little bit.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Once again, she can not make out the people, just their foggy outlines.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

One moves closer to her. Close enough to touch. If only she could move.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

The person places something over her eyes and her surroundings become clear. A bleach white hospital room. Her brother standing by her side. Her team hovering in the background A wheelchair in the corner. That blasted monitor.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Her brother smiles and utters some words, but Mia does not comprehend any of his words. She just gazes into his expectant eyes as she watch the excitement fade from his face and turn into a fake mask of happiness hiding his fear.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Her eyes suddenly begin to feel heavy again and she lets herself doze in and out of consciousness.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

Whenever she wakes, her brother always stands next to her, but sometimes her team fades in and out. Sometimes all of them hover in the background. Sometimes only a few of them. Most of the time none of them. Her brother stands as the only constant. Well, only her brother and the monitor.

Beep...Beep...Beep…

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**A/N: The next chapter should be updated soon! Please review so I can make this the best story possible!**


	5. Works

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing except for my creativity.**

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Slowly the drugged haze leaves her and after about a week, her head has cleared enough to allow her to speak.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Mia looks up at her brother and asks, "Where am I?"

He smiles and replies, "You're in the hospital."

"Knew that. Which?"

"Oh," surprised he answers, "the one on the corner of Queens and Sharon. It is next to Panorama Tech."

Beep... Beep... Beep...

She thinks for a little more and asks, "Why?"

"You saved a kid's life. A man tried to take him away from his mother, but you stopped that from happening. You fought the guy off, but he pushed you off a bridge," Terry responds. "Do you remember that?"

"A little." She raises her hand to the bridge of her nose. "Glasses?"

He smiles and chuckles, "Yeah, the doctors think your contacts washed out while you were underwater or something like that. They didn't want to put in your contacts while you were drifting in and out of consciousness."

Beep... Beep... Beep...

She rolls her eyes and stammers, "Hate these. They like Urkel." His chuckle turns into a full blown laugh when she says this. Mia looks down at the hand that was just at her nose and realizes it has been wrapped in bandages. "Hand?"

"You had gone to pick up Jayden's present for Antonio. It was an octo zord lure. You refused to let go of it, even when you were barely conscious. The EMT's had to sedate you to open up your hand. The hooks lodged themselves into your palm." As he speaks, he then shifts around uncomfortably in his seat. Mia looks at him quizzically, attempting to figure out what makes him so nervous. Then he glances down at his shoes and realization strikes. She looks down at his legs and then realization strikes.

Beep... Beep... beep.. beep..

She shifts in the bed a little bit and then stutters, "Legs…Terry. Can't feel them." He looks back up at her, and she sees tears running down his cheeks.

beep.. beep.. beep.. beep..

He shakes his head. "Mia, when you fought off that guy you had a fracture in your T10 vertebrae. When you hit the water, that fracture turned into a break and severed your spinal cord irreparably," he says, voice quavering. The moment he says this, memories flood her brain like a tsunami just as tears flow down her cheeks.

beep.. beep.. bep. bep.

She sees the man in the hooded jacket. She remembers trying to fight him. She sees his scarred face just as he throws her over. she remembers the weightless feeling of the air as she falls. She remembers the feeling of the water as her back slams into it, and not being able to move or swim, but still trying. She remembers the water seeping into her lungs just before she…

bep. bep. bep. bep. bep. bep.

Terry stands up out of his chair and wraps his arms around her. He rests his chin on her head and she leans into his chest. The room fades away as Terry removes her glasses to pull her closer. As she dampens Terry's shirt, she can only focus on the spot where she knows the folded up wheelchair rests against the wall.

bep. bep. beep.. beep.. beep..

A nurse slips in and places a familiar box on the chair that Terry sat in. As Mia calms down, Terry lets her slip from his grip and returns her glasses to her face. They see the box and smile bitterly.

beep.. beep.. beep.. beep..

"Doughnuts?" Mia asks.

Terry chuckles, "Yeah, these are the ones that Dr. Sam brings in for some of his patients. Do you want one?" She nods yes.

beep.. beep.. Beep... Beep...

Terry picks up the box and places it on Mia's lap. Then he moves her over to the side of the bed and hops in next to her. He pops open the box and pulls out a chocolate on chocolate doughnut. He smiles and hands it to his sister and then takes one for himself.

He turns to Mia and with chewed up doughnut still in his mouth, he mumbles, "Works every time."

She rolls her eyes and replies, "Close mouth, chewing."

He swallows, then teases,"I'll stop talking with my mouth full, when you don't. Yeah, that's right! I see the chocolate in your mouth. Ever heard of practice what you preach?"

Mia gulps her doughnut down and smiles. "You're right," Mia replies. She points down at the box in her lap, "Works."

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Terry pulls his sister close as they both look at the wheelchair, wondering what will happen next.

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**A/N: What did you think? Do you think Mia will be able to continue on as the pink ranger? All questions that could be influenced by you in a certain comments box…**


	6. Pinkey

**A/N: I'm not going to lie, I did a lot of research for this chapter, and a disappointingly small amount of that research ended up being described. Oh well. I guess if I ever need to go to an inpatient rehab I now know what to expect. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy and review!**

**Disclaimer: Guess who doesn't own Power Rangers? This gal! (a girl can dream!)**

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"…and Dan's stick flew out of his hand and hit me on the head! It was the worst concert we have ever played! The worst of part is that our new bassist, Patrick, just can not play. He is so nice, and he tries, but he can not play. We really need our old bassist back." Terry rants as he reminisces about a botched concert he and his band played the night before.

"We both know that is never going to happen!" Mia comments.

Terry continues, "I know. John is such a jerk. You know, I am actually glad you had to miss it."

"I still wish I could have gone!" Mia pouts.

"No, Mia, you do not. It would have been a complete waste of your time. It was awful!" he laughs.

"Still!" she retorts, "It would have been your awful concert, and that would have made it worth the time, and the laugh."

"Thanks, sis!" Terry rolls his eyes.

"Plus, it would have really been nice to get out of here. I'm so sick of this place," she whines.

Terry nods, but adds, "At least you were moved to a rehab facility. This room is a lot more comfy than the one at the hospital." Mia looks around the room. Instead of bleach white the walls boast a soft blue. Instead of the noxious smell of disinfectant, a sweet air freshener permeates the room. Instead of a hospital bed, Mia lays on an actual bed, and a dresser stands across from her, and the whole atmosphere feels more like home. No more beeping monitors, IV's, or MRI's. However, with the joys of the new facility come with new pains as well. Located about a mile down the road from the hospital, Terry can not visit during his lunch break every day and the many therapists and specialists exhaust her with exercises to help her adjust to life in a chair.

A soft knock on the door draws them away from their conversation. They turn to see a petite blond woman standing at the door with a little freckled boy, no older than six, who clutches a pink teddybear. The woman nudges the shy boy into the room.

"Um, excuse me?" the woman meekly asks, "Are you Melina Watanabe?" Mia gives her a smile and nods. The woman continues, "I am Jocelyn MacIntire and this is Sammy. You saved him at the bridge. We wanted to thank you and see how you are doing."

Mia blushes and shrugs, "I'm fine and it was nothing, really."

"You saved his life! Who knows where he would be if that man had gotten to him. You're a hero!" Mrs. MacIntire exclaims.

"I wouldn't go that far," Mia giggles embarrassedly. Sammy slips away from his mother and walks up to the hospital bed.

He holds the teddy bear out and mumbles, "I got this for you."

Mia smiles and accepts the bear and says, "Thank you!" The bear is pink, fluffy, and has white angel wings. She snuggles it and pats the bed next to her. Terry picks him up and places him right next to her. He gives her a big hug, and despite it hurting a little, she smiles and returns the gesture.

With his head still resting on her shoulder, Sammy whispers, "Thank you Ms. Wasanawpey."

"It was worth it," Mia chuckles, "and you can call me Mia."

"M'kay," he mumbles, "and the bear's name is Pinkey. He can fly, so if you get stuck, he'll help you out of it. He's also pink, 'cause girls like pink, and you're a girl, so you gotta like him." Mia laughs and shakes her head. As she looks down at the small figure wrapped in her arms, Mia can not help but think of what might have happened to the little boy if she hadn't been there. Would he be hurt? Would he be scared and trapped? Would he even be alive? As she realizes that she can not answer any of these questions, she pulls him close.

"I really like him," she says, "but are you sure that all girls like pink?"

He nods, "Yeah, that's what my bwuder Zach says, and he's got lots of girlfwends."

Intrigued, Mia asks, "Really? How many?"

"Like, more than ten. Lots more than ten. I can't even count on my fingers and toes that's how many girlfwends he's got," Sammy explains. Smiling, Mia rolls her eyes as she hears this. Terry talks to Mrs. MacIntire while Mia goofs around with Sammy.

"So she is going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life?" Mrs. MacIntire asks.

Terry nods, "Yeah, but I don't think she feels bad about it. She never thinks about what she wants. Honestly, she rarely thinks about what she needs."

Mrs. MacIntire is astonished, "Really?"

"Yeah, there is a reason I am going to be a doctor. I figured out a long time ago that there is no way that she would ever afford her medical bills without a family discount!"

"I bet. She really is amazing," Mrs. MacIntire marvels.

"I know," Terry agrees, "I just wish that she wouldn't ignore it."

At that moment, a nurse enters the room. "Looks like I've got to go," Mia sadly says to Sammy. He hops down from her bed as the nurse rolls Mia's chair around to her. With the assistance of the nurse, she transfers from the bed to her chair. With Pinky sitting on her lap, Mia waves goodbye to Mrs. MacIntire and Sammy and gives a hug to her brother as she wheels herself out of the room.

They maneuver through hallways and ultimately end up in a room with various types of equipment. The nurse hands Mia off to her physical therapist, Dr. Lang, who guides her towards a wooden bench. Mia transfers from her chair to the bench and then returns Pinkey to his rightful place on her lap.

Dr. Lang notices the bear and asks, "Who is that?"

"Oh, this is Pinkey," Mia replies, "He was a gift from a friend."

"Cute!" Dr. Lang comments as she tosses Mia a medicine ball. She begins doing various exercises with the ball as instructed by Dr. Lang.

While still doing the exercises, Mia comments, "I've been doing research on my own, and I read that some patients with my level of injury can walk with the help of braces after a while. Do you think that I will be able to do that?" Dr. Lang stops Mia from doing the exercises and looks her in the eye.

"Mia," she begins, "your spinal cord was completely severed when you landed on the water. I can say with great certainty that you will never be able to walk again on your own."

"Are you sure?" Mia pleads, "I read that…"

"Mia," Dr. Lang interrupts, "I know this is hard, but you have to come to terms with the fact that your accident happened, and that this is your new reality. I can only help you get so far with you in denial."

"I know," Mia sighs as she looks down at Pinkey, "At least it was worth it."


	7. I Told You So

**Disclaimer: I do not own the songs Mexico (Mrs. MacIntire) or King of Oblivion. That would be Seven Nations. Still don't own Power Rangers.**

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After several weeks, Dr. Lang clears Mia to go home. She leaves the inpatient rehab able to bathe, get dressed, use the toilet, and maneuver her chair in an ideal setting. However, Mia does not have an ideal setting at home back in Angel Grove. Because of this, Ji offered to allow Mia to stay in the Shiba house at least until her and her family can make her home more accessible or until she can find a place of her own that works. On her way home, Mia gazes out the window at the people passing by. Unable to sit in silence, Terry puts on some acoustics and holds her hand. Mia can't help but smile at his gesture, but suddenly, her smile fades.

"Terry, how am I going to get around the Shiba house? They have stairs everywhere!" she exclaims.

"Mia, it's a one floor building," he nonchalantly replies.

"Yeah, but they have two steps separating this room from that! To get to the dojo from the living room, you go down two steps. To get to the living room from the training yard, you go up two steps. It basically compensates for the lack of doors!" she explains.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he says. She nervously fiddles with the new wheelchair gloves. They feel bulky and weird on her hands and are a constant reminder of her situation. As they drive along, Terry starts singing along with an upbeat tune playing on radio. "Where are you going Mrs. MacIntire? Where are you going on this fine day? Where are you going Mrs. MacIntire, and are you coming back again this way?"

Mia laughs, "Hey, isn't that Sammy's mom's name?"

"Yup!" he chirps, "It's a long, long road to the banks of la la la, and somthin' somthin' he needs to annunciate!" She rolls her eyes at her brother's joke. He sees this and asks, "What? You should hear their other song, "King of Oblivion"! I think I can make out two words the entire song! The rest of it sounds like, I hermaritztichiler, I herm atories to the pie!"

"Prove it!" Mia jokes. With that Terry pulls out a CD and plays it. Once it starts Mia's eyes get wide at a familiar sound. "Wait," she exclaims, "Is that bagpipes?" When her brother nods yes she mumbles, "You are so weird!" They spend the rest of the car ride mimicking what they think that the lead singer is saying. All of Mia's fears seem to creep away as they goof around, only to return when they roll into the driveway. Out the window she sees several of the rangers training. Her stomach turns and she looks over at her little brother. She pleads, "I don't think I can…"

"Don't even try, Mia," Terry interrupts. With that he puts the car in park and hops out. He unloads the chair, and helps his sister down into it. She sits there for a moment, hands hovering over the wheels, trying to decide what to do. Terry sees this and reaches into the back seat of the car and pulls out Mia's bear and places it on her lap. "There, Pinkey will help you through this," he smiles. She looks up at him and places her hands down onto the wheels and pushes. She wheels herself around the car, but before she can get much farther two arms wrap themselves around her, clamping her to the chair. She looks up to find a certain blonde girl grinning down at her.

"Hi, Em!" Mia says. Emily walks around to the front of the chair and kneels down.

"I'm so glad you're home!" she exclaims, holding Mia's hands in hers.

Mia agrees, "Me too!" By now all of the other rangers noticed the arrival and rush over to greet her. Despite their attempts to bend down or kneel, Mia can't help but feel small.

"Hey, Mia," Jayden says, "we have a little surprise for you." They lead her to the house, where Mia sees a small ramp wide enough for her chair on the steps. Seeing her smile, and sigh of relief, he continues, "We figured it would be best to make this place a little more accessible."

"Thank you," she says.

Mike chimes in, "Yeah, and after all of that work, I'm starved! So, Antonio, what's for dinner?"

"Amigo, we finished this yesterday, and we just had lunch!" Antonio laughs.

Ji walks out of the house and says, "Let's give Mia a little time to relax, then I figured we could go out for pizza. If I were stuck in the hospital for that long, I wouldn't want to stay inside for much time." He looks over at the blue ranger, who cringed at the very mention of pizza, and adds, "Kevin, we will walk there. Don't worry about your diet."

"Uh, Ji?" Mike asks, "How are you planning to have Mia walk there?"

Ji sighs, "You know what I mean!" They all laugh and head inside.

Terry walks up behind Mia and whispers into her ear, "I told you you'd be fine." She rolls her eyes and with Pinkey in tow, confidently follows her friends into the house.

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**A/N: I hope you liked it! As I said before, the songs are called Mexico and King of Oblivion. They are sung by my favorite band, Seven Nations. Yes, I like bagpipes. I actually know the lead singer, Kirk. I'll see you next time! Please review!**


	8. I Know I Can

**A/N: Ok, so new chapter! Yay! First, I'm going to thank GoseiShinkenPink for reviewing all of my chapters. It really makes my day when you do. I'm also going to thank lolajohnson94, Teamwerewolf4eva, vinitapepperdog1983, and JonMacIntosh (my baby bro) for favoriting and following my story. Finally, I'm going to thank Mistycharming and Dark Yellow Dino for following my story. It means so much to me that you guys like my writing! If you have anything to say, please review. It means a lot to me. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

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"So, how long exactly are you staying?" Mia asks.

"Just until you get back on your feet," Terry answers. She raises an eyebrow and he continues, "metaphorically speaking, of course." Mia rolls her eyes. Her little brother had surprised his sister after pizza by announcing that he would be staying with her and the others at the Shiba house. At first she was excited about having him around, but after a few days it is getting old. "Why do you ask?" he adds.

"Some people don't like being baby sat," she curtly replies, "especially by their little brother!" He smiles, ruffles her hair, and walks out. Mia purses her lips and pouts for a moment reminiscing about the days when she could just knock that pesky smirk off of his face with one swift kick. She wheels into the hallway when she hears in the dojo all of the other rangers, Terry, and Ji talking in hushed voices. The sliding door is shut, which is odd, because they never do that. Ji doesn't allow it. She peeks through a crack in the door and listens to what they are saying.

Jayden in his authoritative voice says, "Terry, I can not figure you out. You should not have the same amount of symbol power as Mia, but you should be able to at least morph. I know you put off training once you started college, but it still should not be this bad. You have so little symbol power in you it's like you aren't even related to Mia. What is going on?"

"I can't be a ranger," Terry mumbles.

"What did you day?" Jayden asks.

Terry sighs and runs his hands through his hair. Then he looks and meets Jayden's steady gaze. Frustrated he yells, "I can't be a ranger, okay? I always trained just as hard as Mia, but symbol power never worked for me. I don't know why, but I do know I can't be a ranger because I can't use symbol power. I never have been able to and I never will. For Pete's sake, I don't have enough symbol power to make a gust of wind that could move a hair on your head let alone morph!"

"You idiot," Mia whispers, "he physically can't do symbol power." Jayden hears this and walks over to the sliding door. Before Mia can get away, he slides it open and grabs her chair. He pulls her inside of the room where all of the other rangers stand with Ji and her brother.

"What do you mean, he 'can't do symbol power?'" Jayden asks.

"His asthma," she sighs. He can't do symbol power because our family's element is air and if his body isn't getting enough air, then it won't let him use up more of the precious air he already has. Mom never told you because she knew you too well. If we told you that you couldn't do something, you would keep trying harder until you got it. You would have killed yourself, Terry."

"Well, isn't that great!" Mike sighs, "Now, we are down a ranger and we've wasted a whole month on this guy who will never be able to be a ranger?"

"Amigo," Antonio interrupts, "are you sure there is no way I could build some sort of a special chair or something? I mean seriously! Terry can't fight, but with her experience, I think Mia could figure it out."

"Ji and I already discussed that," Jayden replies, shaking his head, "There is no possible way for her to go into battle and come out alive. She can't push her chair while holding a sword, the recoil of any spin attack would send her flying backwards, and what if she falls out? She'd be a sitting duck! I haven't even mentioned the fact that she is eye level with the average mooger's sword. She would get decapitated!"

"Jayden, I could figure it out!" Mia retorts, "Maybe I don't use a sword, I use something else. I've seen videos of wheelchair sports and I think that I…"

"No," he interrupts, "Mia, you are one of the bravest people I know, and one of the most stubborn. I know you will try, but as your friend. I refuse to send you out on a suicide mission!" Antonio shakes his head in agreement. Jayden rubs his eyes and says, "Listen, I know this is going to be hard on all of us, but we all know that you won't tell us if you have any doubts that you could do it. You would go right out there and get yourself killed!"

"I would…"

"Just look at the past few months as an example!" he exclaims, "You took a hit for me and ended up in the hospital. Then, you go on an errand to help me out and you get thrown off of a bridge. I am not letting anything happen to you again!"

"Jayden," Mia coos, "this is not your fault."

He storms out of the room in a huff. Antonio runs after him. The other rangers and Ji awkwardly file out of the area, leaving the two siblings alone. Terry leans against the wall and then slinks down to the ground. Mia wheels over to him and transfers to the ground so she leans up against him.

"Why didn't you tell me that I can't do symbol power?" he whispers.

Mia sighs, "Being a ranger never was your destiny. Mom and I wanted you to focus on what you could do, and not what you can't. There are plenty of people in the world telling us what we can't do. Our family needs to tell us what we can."

Terry storms out of the room, leaving Mia leaning up against the wall. She transfers back into her chair and wheels out of the room. She turns around and wheels into her room where her duffel bag lays open on her bed with a letter she received from her cousin, Cam, earlier that day sitting next to it.

_Mia,_

_I am so glad to hear that you have finally been released from inpatient rehab. I understand that your house is not accessible as of right now and I wanted to offer you another option. Last summer, the previous head of the Wind Ninja Academy had stayed with us over the summer. Like you, he is now bound to a wheelchair, so we built ramps all over campus. There no longer is a single place on campus that can not be accessed by a wheelchair. You are always welcome to stay here with us for as long as you need. Marah and Kapri have been taking cooking classes at our local community college and want to try some new recipes out on you. Dad says they take after you in their cooking skills. If you need me to pick you up, I can. Next week there will be a conference of heads of all of the ninja academies in Panorama, and Dad and I are going. We can pick you up afterwards. I hope you are doing well, talk to you soon!_

_Sincerely,_

_Cam_

Mia stares at her bag and the letter longingly. She can not cook, because she can not reach the stove. She can not clean, because of her clunky chair getting in the way. There are really no other chores to do aside from that and the ones that are left are still just out of the realm of possibility. However, every time she goes to pack the bag, a feeling in her gut stops her. Leaving now would be quitting, and Mia never quits.

She opens her bag, and inside finds a folded sheet of paper. She unfolds it and sees a URL printed on it in black ink. Curiosity gets the best of her, so she pulls out her laptop and types it in. When she presses enter, her mouth hangs open and her eyes widen at what she sees. The link lead her to a video of a teenage boy at a skatepark, doing tricks and flips in a wheelchair. She looks over at her bag and knocks it off the bed. She made her decision. Mia races into the hallway with her laptop resting on her legs and stops just as she reaches the entrance to the living room.

"Hey, Mike, can you come here for a second?" she innocently asks, trying not to show her excitement. The green ranger looks up from his hand held video game and walks over to her. She opens up her laptop and shows him the video. Once it finishes, she looks over to him with a childish grin and he shakes his head.

"Tell me you are not about to ask me what I think you are about to ask me," he begs.

She exclaims, "I know how I can be a ranger!"

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**A/N: You know that feeling when you are writing a chapter and you are having so much fun writing this chapter? I got that feeling writing this one. I can not wait to show you guys what happens next! Don't forget to say hi to my good old pal Mr. Reviewbox! (he gets lonely every once in a while).**


	9. A Long Story

"Mia, no!" Mike pleads, "No, no, no! I'm the reckless one with the bad ideas. You're the level headed one with the common sense! Not the other way around!"

"This could be my way back into the game! If I can handle different obstacles, like maybe stairs, then I could adapt my fighting style and be the pink ranger again!" she exclaims, "We both know that you guys can't be down a ranger in a time like this, so if you teach me…" She gestures with her hands for him to fill in the rest.

"No, Mia that would get you killed!" he admonishes. She shrugs and he sarcastically says to himself, "You don't care. Of course not. I can't teach you this stuff, Mia. If you get hurt again, Jayden will ring my neck!"

She sighs, "I get it. I'll just go down to the skatepark and figure it out on my own." With that she turns and begins to wheel outside, but he grabs the back of her chair and spins her around.

"The only reason I am saying this is because I know that you aren't bluffing," he tells her, "Fine. If we are going to do this, then we are going to do this right. Look at his chair. It has a lower back and a seat belt. It obviously is designed for this. Yours is the clunky kind the hospital gives you! Before we do anything, if we do anything, we are getting Antonio to help us build you a better suited chair."

"So you'll do it?" she asks.

"Do I have a choice?" he counters. She hugs him really tight and then races outside past Jayden and Kevin as they spar. "Where are you going?" he yells.

"To the docks!" she exclaims and points towards the gate. With that she wheels out onto path that leads to town.

"What is she doing?" Jayden asks.

"Well," deciding that it would be best to not tell anyone, he says, "Since everyone else is training, she begged me, the slacker, to take her to the docks. She wanted to see the place where it happened, and she really wants to see Fernando. He was that fisherman dude who pulled her out of the water."

"Ok," he says, "make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?"

"Since when am I the responsible one?" Mike asks and then without waiting for an answer, turns and runs after Mia. Once he catches up with her he tells her of his alibi and they head towards the bus stop. Once it arrives, Mike goes to pick up Mia, but the bus driver, and old portly woman with a bad attitude stops him.

"You can't bring that wheely thing on my bus! It won't fit and that girl would need a seat to sit in, 'cause we both know that she would be standin' if she could. There 'ain't no seats left, honey."

Mike goes to retort, but Mia stops him and says, "Come on, there are never any seats left on this bus." She turns and wheels away. Mike glares at the lady who just sneers back. "Come on, Mike!" she yells. He marches off after her grumbling about the lady and using some heavy language. Mia sighs, "Mike, just knock it off. I'm used to it. This sort of thing happens to me all the time. People don't tell you this, but it comes with the chair and a boatload of other problems."

"Well, I'm still filing a complaint!" he exclaims, "I took a picture of that bus' license plate!"

The walk to the docs is a lot longer without being able to take the bus. Even though she wonders if Antonio will even still be there, Mia confidently pushes ahead. When they finally reach him, they see Antonio packing up for the day.

"Antonio!" Mia yells. He turns and smiles when he sees his friends approaching. He puts down his things and walks over to them.

"¡Hola amigos! What's up?" he asks.

Mia excitedly looks at Mike and then back at Antonio and says, "We need your help with a project."

"Sure. What do you need amiga?" Antonio asks.

"We need you to help us build a chair that might withstand battle," she says. Antonio's face gets serious and worried. She continues, "I think we found something that might make it possible."

"Chicita, that is insane! You'll get killed," he yells.

"That's what I told her, but it's either help her try to do this safely or let her try to do it on her own," Mike explains, "We will only send her out into battle with Jayden's approval, but first we need a chair that would work. We found something that could be a base model, but I figured with your tech skills we could make it battle ready." Still unsure Antonio shakes his head. Mike sees this and says, "Hey! You said it yourself that with her experience she can do it. We never said that it would be easy, but it's better than nothing!

"We believed in you when you first came here, so now you've gotta believe in us," Mia adds.

Antonio looks down at the ground and sighs, "Well, then I guess we better get to the drawing boards. Speaking of which, where are the drawing boards going to be. I'm going to assume that you're not telling the others for now, right?"

"You'll do it?" Mia asks with glee.

"Yeah, I'll do it," he chuckles. She embraces her two friends in a giant group hug. The two guys share a knowing look and laugh. Mia tells them that she has the perfect place for the project and that she'll show them when they get home. They still need to stop by Fernandos in case Jayden asks. As they make their way they stop at Fernando's shop, he greets the trio with a smile.

"Hey, little one! How are you holding up?" he asks Mia while crouching down to bee at eye level with her.

"I'm doing fine, and for the record I was taller than you when I was on my feet, little one!" she jokes.

He puts a hand on her shoulder and laughs, "You're the craziest kid I've ever met!" They talk for a little while longer, but eventually a customer pulls him away. As they leave they hear him reciting the tale of that fateful day, with a couple of embellishments.

"I knew about the back brace, but I didn't realize I fought of seven guys wielding guns and knives while saving ten children," she sarcastically quips.

"Oh, by the time Fernando is done with it, you would have single handedly taken down a full army of mutant soldiers and you fell off a bridge into a pit of shark infested molten lava!" Antonio laughs. They all joke about it the whole way home. By the time they get there they came up with a story so elaborate that it barely even resembles the original.

Ji walks up to them and asks them what took them so long, and after explaining the issue with the bus driver, he sadly looks down at Mia and tells her not to take it personally. Mia shrugs it off and wheels inside to get something to eat.

"The way that lady looked down on her really rubbed me the wrong way," Mike grumbles, "She acted like Mia was some rodent."

"Yeah, and after she defeated those flaming, ninja, monkey, undead warriors saving the hundreds of defenseless, starving, orphan children you'd think she'd get a little bit of respect!" Antonio jokes.

"What?" Mentor asks. The guys shake their heads and laugh.

In unison they say, "It's a long story!"

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**A/N: Hey! I hope you had a Happy Holidays and enjoy the New Year! I hope you liked this chapter, and if you do please tell me what you liked, if you didn't tell me what I need to change.**

**The guy I mentioned in my story's name is Aaron Fotheringham. He is a total boss. This is also a disclaimer for future references. I do not own him. I found him while doing research.**


	10. The Hideout

**A/N: This is the lost chapter! How I forgot to post this, I will never know, but the story flows fine without it. I just thought I would add it for a little fun and some clarity. It is short, but I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Power Rangers.**

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Mia puts her finger over her mouth as Mike, Antonio, and her creep around the Shiba house at night. She quietly wheels through the halls, trying not to knock into anything as she goes. Antonio carries a backpack full of supplies and other things that could help them with their project. Mia leads them back around the Shiba house to a hidden shed. She unlocks the door and pulls herself up into the building. She smiles as she looks around at her private little shed. Music sheets lay about and a giant case sits in the middle of the room underneath a music stand. The guys look around as Mia rolls around, trying to pick up all of the stray music and move it out of the way.

"I always thought that this is where Ji kept the gardening supplies," Mike says. Mia smiles and pulls the case to the side of the room. Luckily it has wheels on one side so she can drag it easily. "How did you get into this place?" he asks.

Mia shrugs, "Second day here, I found a small note on my bed with the lock combination. It said that if I found what it belonged to, then I could use it whenever I wanted to so long as I didn't miss training. After about a couple of days of searching in between training, I found it with all of my music and my cello. I spend at least an hour in here every day. Usually after a nighlock battle I come in here. It is really nice to just unwind by myself. Plus, when I came back from rehab, it was equipped with a ramp so I know someone wants me able to use this place!"

Antonio walks over to where she placed her instrument and says, "I didn't know you played the cello." Mia smiles humbly. She continues to pick up the last piece of music and place it on her music stand.

"Do you know who gave you the combo?" Mike asks.

She shakes her head and sighs, "I've always assumed that it was Ji, but I don't know for sure." Antonio starts to spread out some papers covered in designs all over the ground. They help Mia down onto the ground where they watch several videos of the guy doing what he calls "Hard Core Sitting" and adjusting the design accordingly. They also watch videos people have posted of their battles and videos of wheelchair rugby and wheelchair karate. By the end of the night, they have a rough idea of what the chair will look like, and quite possibly what materials they will use.

They quietly lock up and sneak out just at the crack of dawn. They have to duck out of the way to avoid being seen by Kevin or Ji who walk around preparing breakfast for themselves and starting their day of chores and training almost four hours earlier than everybody else. They sneak past the early birds and tiptoe into their respective rooms to catch a sliver of sleep before they must rise.


	11. Broken

**A/N: Hey! Sorry for the wait. I've been busy lately with the March For Life and other events that came up in the past month. I sure hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!**

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One month passed as the trio continue their project. They go over possible scenarios that might come up and test their creation. Some nights they would sneak out and bring their prototype into the woods to test how well it would work on rough terrain. Sometimes they would go all the way to the skate park to practice around obstacles. Other nights they would work until dawn in the shed tweaking and editing their design. The more they work, the better it gets, and the greater of a chance that Mia will take back her role as the pink ranger full time.

In the meantime, Mia has become more of a nurse to the samurai. During each battle she prepares ice packs and frozen peas, a pot of tea (with some assistance from Ji), bandages and gauze, and Emily's favorite stuffed monkey, Joe, for when the rangers return home. She also assists Ji in bandaging and mending the wounds as Terry quickly left the Shiba house once he realized he could not take up the mantle of the pink ranger. She also has created instructions for several basic appliances, like the washing machine and the dryer, which have spared some of the red ranger's white clothing.

Mia anxiously sits, waiting for the rangers to return. It appeared to be just a clan of moogers, but what should have taken no longer than an hour, has lasted three. She constantly rearranges the different medical supplies and prepares more as time grows. Wheeling in and out of every room, OCD on fire, she makes minor critiques to every object she sees, in an attempt to make it perfect and to distract herself. Ji stands guard at the table, watching the battle go down on the reflection. His lips are pursed as he stares down with such focus that it seems as if he were trying to put a hole in the table with laser vision. When Mia wheels through one more time he grabs the handle on the back of her chair, stopping her in her tracks.

"Will you stop pacing back and forth?" he pleads.

"Ji, I can't move my legs, therefore I can't pace!" she jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood.

He rolls his eyes, just as a cry from the front yard sounds, "Ji! Come here!" Mia and Ji share a terrified look and take off towards the owner of the voice. When they come around, they see something very unsettling. Terry's limp body is being held in the arms of Jayden. All are de-morphed with the exception of the surrogate pink ranger, whose uniform is torn and dirtied and his helmet is cracked.

Panicked, Jayden explains, "I have no idea how this happened. He shouldn't have been able to morph, but he showed up and fought. The moogers knew it wasn't Mia were targeting him. He had so little power he could barely fight them off. No matter what we did, they kept coming and attacking him. We couldn't stop them."

All movable muscles in Mia's body visibly tense as she stares dumbfounded at the sight in front of her. Slowly, she wheels towards the red ranger, who places his broken body onto her lap. She does not know who, but someone begins to push her towards the house. Her whole body feels numb and all she can do is stare down at her sleeping baby brother. She feels his week breaths on her chest as he fights for each one. She clasps his hand in hers and closes her eyes to keep her tears at bay.

Ji lifts Terry off of her and places him on a bed in the infirmary. He draws a symbol on her brother's chest, forcing him to de-morph. Underneath his armor, his skin is spotted with various shades of black, blue, purple, and red. A gash on his right collarbone seeps a deep red. Small slashes and nicks cover his flesh and his eyes are swollen shut. Mia's stomach churns at the sight and her hands begin to shake. She nervously grabs the bandages and the disinfectant, but Ji takes them out of her hands.

Before she can protest, Ji kneels down and calmly whispers, "Go, sit by his side and hold his hand. Try to comfort him if need be, but whatever you do don't let go." She shakes her head and glides over to the side of the bed. Mia interlocks her fingers with her little brother's and quietly waits for a response. Ji works around her while applying the bandages, medical glue for the large gash, and just doing an overall check up. Mia watches as he works, but does not speak. When he quietly ambles out of the room, she does not take notice. She just silently stares down at her baby brother while tiny droplets of water streak her tired face. The eldest pink remains this way for the remainder of the night, not sleeping and not moving, just waiting patiently by his side.

At dawn, Terry begins to stir. Slowly and painfully, he barely opens his eyes. He glances over to his sister who just barely is able to mumble his name. She shakes her head as more tears flow down her cheeks.

Terry stutters out, "I..I...I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I ju...ju...just wanted to he...help."

She reaches over and gives him a one-armed hug, then turns and yells, "Ji! He's awake!" As Ji sprints into the room to check on Terry, Mia wheels outside.

"There is only one way he could have morphed," she mutters to herself. Grabbing Jayden's bow and arrow she furiously scrawls on a piece of parchment, 'GET TO PANORAMA NOW.' She then stabs her message with an arrow and shoots it off to its destination. As she waits, the other rangers walk out to the training yard, asking her why she sits here instead of inside with her brother. Just then, a green streak of light bounces around the landscape ahead of them until it lands in the Shiba house yard. Cam Watanabe stands up and meets the furious gaze of his little cousin.

"What happened?" he asks, "Is everything alright?"

"You did this to him," she spat, "You somehow enabled him to be the pink ranger and now he looks like he was thrown into a blender!"

"Mia, I…" he stammers.

"Don't even talk!" she hisses, "You might have just killed him." With that she whips herself around and goes back inside to where her brother lays, leaving the rangers and Cam dumbfounded in the yard.

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**A/N: Terry's hurt! Oh no! What will they do? The experiment is still being tested! Tell me your thoughts down in Mr. Review Box!**


	12. Solutions

A/N: Thank you so much for your patience anyone who is reading this. I am so sorry for the wait. My grandmother fell ill and has now passed. During that time I didn't have enough time to write, but I had been slowly working on this chapter. Hopefully now that things are starting to get back to a semblance of normality, my writing will too. By the end of the week I should have another chapter for The Untold Truth up as well. Once again, I am sorry for the wait, and I appreciate all of you so much!

Later that night, after caring for her younger brother for several painstaking hours, Mia storms into the shed. She forces herself into the prototype and begins to buckle herself in just as the door opens again. She looks up to see Antonio, tailed by Mike, enter pleading, "Mia, stop! You need to rest." Her eyes meet with the gold ranger's but she shakes her head.

Mia mumbles, "No more waiting. No more testing. I have to start training on this thing. I can't let anything like this happen again. I can't…I can't…" She runs her hands through her hair and chokes, "He got hurt because of me. Don't even try to say that it isn't my fault. He felt like he had to go out there because I got hurt and because I told him that he couldn't. I'm not letting this happen again. He will go out again, because he is my brother and I know that if I was in his situation, I would. I have to get back in the game, now."

Antonio and Mike stand looking down at her for a moment, then Mike nods his head and says, "Okay, lets start doing some practical training. I have a place where we can start, but I'll need to get some things arranged so that we have the place to ourselves. Go to sleep, Mia. You'll need your energy for tomorrow." She moves over to her other chair and transfers herself onto it. Antonio walks behind her and pushes her chair out of the shed and into her room. She slips into her pj's and lie on top of the covers. Her eyes are heavy, but the refuse to rest. She slips out of her bed and into her chair. Mia glides through the hall as silent as a mouse and creeps into the infirmary. She scans her brother's battered body in the dark and lightly brushes some hair out of his closed eyes. Her fingers intertwine with his and she lets herself rest her head on her arm, while she gently strokes his hand with her thumb. Slowly her tired eyes become content to rest.

The sound of birds chirping and the rays of light from the window tell Mia that morning has arrived. When she tries to lift her head off of her bed, she realizes that her brother's arm is wrapped around her head and her fingers are still interlocked with his. She smiles and ducks under his arm gently, in and attempt not to wake him. When Mia sets her brother's arm down, his fingers tighten around hers, not letting her go. She up at him and his eyes meet hers.

"D...d...don't go," he stammers. Mia squeezes his hand back and gives him a warm smile.

She leans closer to him and whispers, "I am not going anywhere."

"H...how d...did you do it?" Terry asks, "When I...I...I try to fight, I end uh...uh...up getting thrown onto my b...b...butt."

Mia chuckles and shrugs, "I got thrown down a lot two. The key is to never stay there. You always have to get up no matter how much it hurts. You have to get up until you can't even stand anymore." She gently nudges his rib cage and jokes, "Literally. I mean until you literally can't stand anymore." They both laugh until Terry begins to hug his rib cage.

"Don't m...make me laugh, Mia! It hurts!" he whines.

She sighs, "Fine. How about I go get breakfast? You didn't eat much yesterday, and you can't get better on an empty stomach. What do you want?"

He looks away for a moment as if seriously contemplating a complicated matter, then replies, "Cereal. It's hard to blow up milk and carbs. It's also probably the only thing you can reach in the kitchen."

"Hey!" she retorts, "The others love my cooking!"

He rolls his eyes and teases, "Mia, there's a reason that they banned you from the stove!"

"Like you said, I can't reach anything in the kitchen except for the milk and the cereal!" she snaps. She throws down his hand and turns to leave.

Before she can, he yells, "Mia, don't forget to get something for yourself, okay?"

Mia smiles and jests, "Maybe. I have to take care of my defensewiss baby bwudder first." Terry rolls his eyes, but grins at his older sister as she wheels out of the room.

When she reaches the kitchen, she sees Cam. Without acknowledging him, she gets two empty bowls, spoons, the milk carton, and cereal. Then, she leaves silently.

For the rest of the day, Mia speeds around the house performing various tasks for her brother and the other samurai. Neither Mike nor Antonio mention the project, only talking to her about new movies or the latest catch, but Mia did notice that Mike slipped out of the house for half an hour. As night draws nearer she becomes anxious for the lights to go out, but as light's out draws nearer seconds seem to take the span of hours. Yet, despite the prolonged wait, the night does come. She waits in the shed for the others wheeling in circles and figure eights to pass the time. Mia longingly stares at their project, but knows that she should wait. She looks away from the creation and her eyes rest on the black case. A smile creeps onto her face as she rolls over to her trusty cello. Gingerly, she leans it onto her shoulder and begins to play a new song that Antonio gave her the sheet music for. She smiles as the notes build the suspension in the melody. Her head sways for a moment with her bow. Despite the complexity of the music, she picked it up relatively easily. The song contains a certain familiarity that she can not place her finger on. Her whole working body and mind become engulfed in the music, playing the song over and over again ad nauseum. Only when her arm tires and hangs loosely at her side, barely gripping the bow does she notice the time.

"It's one in the morning!" she exclaims, "Lights out is at ten. Where are they?" She turns around and the answer to her question lies on the floor, snoring. Mia rolls her eyes and begins to roll towards them. Shaking them awake she yells, "Hey! Wake up! What are you guys doing?" They groan and open their eyes.

"Mom, five more minutes," Mike whines.

"It's one am!" Mia informs them. With that their eyes snap open and Antonio grabs the prototype and Mike practically drags her out the door. They sneak out the back gate and into the woods and finally end up in the city. They finally stop in front of the local skate park. "Are we training here?" she asks.

Antonio nods and says, "First put these on." He pulls out a pair of black wheelchair gloves from his back pocket and hands them to her. She looks at him skeptically, but does as he says. He continues, "We are going to need to morph up in here in order to avoid the security cameras. Mike got permission from the owner, but he came in his ranger suit. Once you start fighting again, people are going to wonder who you are. This way we won't have any issues." They help her into the prototype which has pink, compact rims. Her legs are strapped into the chair by two padded, metal bars that come across. Underneath the chair is a bar that runs the horizontal length of the chair. The wheels also have shocks and levers that can adjust them if they need to go into the woods. Finally, the seat belt comes across her waist to lock her in.

She looks up at the guys excitedly and asks, "Ready?"

"We're waiting on you!" Mike jokes. When Mia attempts to morph, she blows herself back into the wall. Music flies everywhere and Mia lays on her side under the chair. "Well, at least the chair is in tact!" he halfheartedly jokes.

"What happened?" Mia asks as they set her chair upright.

"I don't know," Mike replies, "Maybe you're rusty. Try again?"

"No!" Antonio exclaims, "Do not try again! We have to figure out the source of this before we do anything else, if we do anything else." Frustrated, Mia puts her head in her hands as she attempts to figure out what went wrong. Suddenly, they hear a knock at the door and they all freeze.

"Mia, are you okay?" the voice from outside asks. Mia instantly recognizes it and swings open the door.

"Cam? How did you find us?" she asks.

He smirks and replies, "Well, the explosion gave you away. Actually, I figured you out rather quickly. Knowing you, the OCD germaphobe, there would have to be a good reason for you to hang out in a shed."

"How did you…"

"I saw you coming in here the other night," he explains, "I figured you were either practicing your cello or building a super chair, and by the looks of it, both guesses were correct." Mia rolls her eyes at him. "Listen, I know you are mad at me for helping Terry, but I knew he would go off and do something stupid if I didn't. At least I could give him some protection."

"That sounds familiar," Mike mumbles. Both of the guys give Mia a reprimanding look. She sees this and sinks into her chair a bit.

"Fine," she sighs, "Sorry I've been ignoring to you. I just never thought I would have to see Terry like that."

"No, apologies necessary cuz," Cam replies, "I get it. How about we use some of my research done on Terry to fix your morphing problem, okay?"

"Wait, you know what the problem is?" Antonio asks.

"Yup," Cam answers, "Your symbol power flows through your body, but your system controls it and releases it when you write a symbol. I figured this out when I did a scan to see why Terry's asthma affected his symbol power. His problem was that he did not have enough oxygen for him to utilize to morph since every time he tried, his adrenaline would spike causing his asthma to act up. Your problem is that without your nervous system in tact, you have no way of controlling it."

"And your solution is?" Mia asks.

"We need to redirect your symbol power back up into your spine so it thinks that it is circulating through your whole body, when in actuality it is only going through about half. This should actually amplify your power if done right. Mike, Emily told me that in highschool you had a bit of an underground business tattooing people without their parents knowing."

"How did you?"

"We will need that skill," he continues.

Mia comments, "I don't like where this is going."


	13. Complete

**A/N: I am so excited! I am one chapter away from completing all of my updates for this story! After this next chapter, all new content baby! I hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

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"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea!" Mia whines.

"Mia, we have to do a permanent symbol," Cam reminds her, "The only way to do that is to make the symbol in a way that can't be removed."

"Are you sure we have to do it this way?" she pleads.

"Here," he says tossing her the scroll, "is the proof that it has to be done this way. It worked for Terry!"

"Mia," Mike chirps, "I have done this hundreds of times. Look." He pulls down his shirt so he can see a tattoo of the forest symbol (森) on his left shoulder and then hands her his phone to show her more pictures of his work. "Plus, you shouldn't be able to feel it!"

"Actually, you have to do it all above the brake," Cam corrects.

"Never mind."

Sitting on her wheelchair backwards, Mia grasps the chair as Mike uses disinfectant on the spot just above her injury. Then, he puts on medical gloves and inserts a new needle into his old tattoo gun.

"Why can't I go to a professional place?" Mia whines.

"It has to be done by someone who can perform symbol power," Cam explains.

"Who did Terry's?" Antonio asks.

"Me," Cam answers, "And trust me, Mia, you do not want me giving you a tattoo."

After whining a bit more, she finally lets Mike begin. He traces the symbol 末, meaning to end or to close, on her back with his samuraizer and then loads ink into his tattoo gun. Antonio holds Mia's hand as Mike proceeds with his work. As Mike calmly traces the outline of the symbol with his tattoo gun and wipes away the excess ink, Mia silently mouths 'ow, ow, ow.' When he finishes, he uses a gauze bandage and medical tape to cover up his work.

"So, how are we going to explain the fact that Mia can't get out of bed tomorrow?" Mike asks. "I mean, she can't have her back rubbing up against anything and her condition makes it so that she has to lean up against her chair."

"The symbol power will lock it in place. You might have noticed that there was not as much excess ink on this tattoo as a normal one," Cam explains as Mike nods in agreement, "It isn't like normal tattoos in that perspective."

"But it still hurts," Mia grumbles.

"Yeah, I know," Cam chuckles, "You will also need to take care of it like a regular tattoo. Mike can help you with that. So, now that is over, how about a take two on the morphing!"

Antonio helps Mia transfer to the new chair without hurting her tattoo too much, and then they strap her in. She puts the brakes on the chair and then morphs up. This time, symbol power engulfs Mia's body as she takes the form of the pink power ranger. Then, from her new gloves, extra armor spreads across her upper body along with a metal bar on her forearms. After that, a slab of metal curves up and over her feet and legs and attaches to her new armor at the waist. On the back a vampire-like collar to protects her neck. Mia looks at the pink and gold armor in awe.

Antonio asks, "Just something extra that I thought would help out. You like it, amiga?"

"Yeah," she beams, "Nice color scheme. I wonder whose idea the gold was?"

"Hey, can't I add a little bit of flair?" he says defensively. Mia giggles and looks back down at her new gear. "I wanted to add some more protection since, like Jayden said, you are eye to eye with the average Mooger's sword. A little extra armor on your back and neck and something to protect your legs. You won't be able to dodge attacks very easily, so we need to account for that. Oh, and something else. Flick your wrists back." Mia does as he says, but nothing happens. "A little faster than that," he adds. She does as she says and the bars open up and come into her hands as two matching tensen that look like mini versions of her sky fan.

"Cool!" she exclaims.

"Yeah, they are. I thought that you would want something a little less bulky than your sword, so I went with something familiar and easy for you to channel your symbol power through. They are magnetic, so flick up and they are in your hands, down and they are on your forearms. This should make it easy for you to push your chair and fight at the same time," he gloats.

Mia marvels, "This is awesome!"

"We have about two hours before Kevin and Mentor wake up. Who wants to go out and test drive this thing?" Mike asks.

"Let's get started!" Mia cheers. With that Cam swipes off his gym clothes and reveals his ninja academy uniform with the mask and the other two rangers morph up. They run outside to begin the second phase of their plan.

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**A/N: So I had to do a lot of research on how tattoos were done as I don't have any (yet). Leave a note in Mr. Reviewbox about what your first tattoo was if you have one and how your experience went. If you don't have one, like me, then tell me what your dream tattoo would be. Mine is a small anchor on my wrist (so original, I know). Either that or the Power Rangers lightning bolt.**


	14. 100 Percent

**A/N: I have finally finished all of my re-writes! As of right now, I will try to post a new chapter once every two weeks or so. I know its not often, but its better than my previous record (once every two years).**

**A/N: So, I've been working on this chapter for a while now to get it just right for you guys, and I am so excited to give it to you! I hope you like it, and please tell me so in the comment section. I will take any suggestions/prompts from you guys. I hope that it was worth the wait! Thank you so much!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.**

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A blast throws Mia onto her side. A quick slash of her tensen towards the ground causes a blast of wind that gets her back onto her wheels. Mia she pushes herself forward, barreling towards her opponent. With her right hand she veers to the right and slashes at him with one of her tensen. He just barely dodges her strike and falters in step. Taking advantage of this she speeds towards him and at the last second, turns around and rams into him with the back of her chair, toppling him to the ground. She turns her chair once more and reaches out, left tensen inches above his neck.

"I surrender!" her opponent pleads. With the flick of her wrist, her tensen rests back on her wrist and an outstretched hand helps Mike up. "Man, I can't wait for Jayden to take you on!" Mike jokes, "I don't even think he could beat you now!"

Cam and Antonio jog over to their friends as Antonio exclaims, "¡Dos minutos! ¡Dos minutos! Amiga, that was brilliant! You took him down in under two minutes! You haven't lost to any of us once in three weeks and you are getting faster. I think it's about time to show the others."

She shifts in her seat, "I don't know, maybe we should train just a little bit longer."

"Mia, you're going to be fine!" Cam goads, "The nighlock don't stand a chance against you!"

She laughs, "It's not the nighlock I'm worried about."

"Then what is it, amiga?" Antonio asks.

"Well," she sighs, "I'm worried that Jayden and the others will shoot down the idea before we even get to show them all of our work."

Mike rests her head against his side and promises, "We won't let that happen, Mia." Under her helmet she smiles weakly, and pretends to not notice the shared look of foreboding between Mike and Antonio that couldn't be disguised even by their helmets. They trudge home before anyone wakes up. They hop into bed for a quick three hour nap before the day begins. As the sun rises the trio trudges out of bed. They all find themselves alone in the kitchen, a rare occasion. Mike pulls out four bowls, Antonio snags the spoons, and Mia grabs the cereal and milk.

As they prepare their meals, Mike leans down to Mia and whispers, "We are going to go to the skate park tonight. Antonio got you two permission to stay out late for some late night fishing event that he made up. Cam and I are going to hang back and wait for lights out, because Mentor needs me to do some chores and for Cam to help take care of Terry, but we'll meet you guys there, okay?"

Mia looks at him and nods, then she smiles at Antonio and asks, "So, what exactly is this fishing event and why do you need me to come?" With a wink, she lets him know that she is on board.

He puts his hands on his hips and begins, "Well, there is a rare species of trout that is nocturnal. It is in abundance this time of the month, and I haven't gotten a chance to go try to catch one. It's a tricky catch, though, and since you're not fighting, you could stay up a little later than usual to help."

"I don't know," she begins, "I don't really have the best track record with water. If you know what I mean." She gestures down to her chair.

"I'll do all of the fishing, hermanita. All I need you to do is help me with my supplies. You can even lock your wheels if you want. Trust me, you'll be perfectly fine," he answers. He squeezes her shoulder and walks away. A giant goofy grin remains plastered on her face even as she performs her chores. She sits whistling, as she polishes a bokken when Emily walks up to her.

"Hey, Mia," Emily mumbles. She shifts in place and fiddles with the hem of her training uniform. "So, I was wondering, since we haven't had much time to hang out much since...well...you know...maybe we could go on a walk...wait...I mean a stroll...or a...uh…"

Mia laughs, "Em, its fine. That would be great. Just let me finish with the swords and then we can go."

Jayden overhears this and interjects, "Just go, Mia. We'll finish the swords for you." Mia opens her mouth to retort, but Jayden interrupts, "You don't have to always clean up after us, Mia. You're not our maid. Go."

"Okay, then," Mia shrugs. Emily mumbles something about changing out of her training uniform and rushes off. Mia and Jayden share a knowing look. Mia sighs, "Even after all of this time, I don't think she's quite used to me being in a wheelchair."

Jayden smirks, "Yeah, it was an adjustment for all of us. You're basically like our big sister. I don't think you realized this, but when we gave you that title, it means that we believe you can help us get over anything. When you got hurt, like really hurt, it was daunting to all of us. I think Emily took the hit the hardest with Serina and all. It's hard seeing everything get taken away from you. It's really scary."

"I know, I wish that you guys wouldn't see what I can't do anymore, but focus more on what I can. I think it would make it easier for all of us," she replies. He nods his head. Just then Emily walks back into the room. Mia gives her an easy smile, then follows her out the door.

The girls wander through the city, stopping every once in a while to pop into a store or peek into the window of a trinket shop. They meander into designer outlets and dress up in fancy clothes they know they will never be able to afford, then pop into their favorite thrift shops where they try on the wackiest things they can get their hands on. Despite the giggles and the joking around, Emily's face remains more solemn than usual. After they leave the thrift shop they head over to the pizza shop to get some lunch. Once they order their medium cheese they settle outside at a table meant for two. Emily moves away the extra chair so Mia can roll up to the table with ease. She flicks on her breaks and then smiles up at her friend.

Mia takes Emily's hand and sighs, "Em, what's wrong?"

"What are you talking about? I'm fine," Emily defends.

"That's a lie. I can tell that something is up. You're not as happy as usual. Please tell me what's wrong," Mia pleads.

Emily looks away and then moans, "I don't know, Mia. It's just...well…"

"Come on, just tell me," Mia begs.

"I can't stop thinking of Serena," Emily whimpers, "Especially after what happened to you. You two are so alike, and I feel like you both are being taken from me."

"Em," Mia coos, "I'm here for you 100%, even though I can only feel 50% of me. You know that, right?" She wheels over to the young blond and wraps her in a warm hug. As she gently strokes the yellow ranger's golden hair in an effort to calm her, she whispers into her ear, "I am better. It has taken a while, but I think that now, I am better. Now, I just need you to be strong, okay?" Emily nods in reply and Mia continues, "Attagirl, just quiet down now. We are going to be okay." They release from the emotional embrace just in time to see their pizza coming out. As the waiter sets it down on the table they grin at each other and grab a slice. For the rest of lunch they chat about every topic under the sun and then they go back to the Shiba house.

Right after they walk up to the gate, Antonio rushes up to Mia and exclaims, "Chiquita! We need to go!"

"Do you have all of the supplies that we need?" Mia asks.

He points to his fishing cart and answers, "Everything is in my cart!" Mia says goodbye to Emily and then they head over to the skate park. Antonio helps Mia out of her chair and into the prototype chair. She cringes when she sits down. "What's wrong, hermanita?"

"This thing reeks of fish!" she whines.

He laughs, "Would you have rather me walked the thing out into the middle of the yard to show the whole house?"

"Well next time could you bring some air freshener?" she pleads as she covers her nose with her hands.

"With all of you complaining, it's a wonder that they ever believed that I would take you fishing!" he exclaims.

"Hey! I'm just joking!" she defends. He nudges her shoulder and then morphs up. She follows suit and then they head inside the park. Once they enter, Antonio starts the clock and the duel begins. Their weapons clash, sparks fly off of the metal. Mia dodges an attack and counters with a few quick slashes to Antonio's chest. He barely escapes her tensen and sprints up the stairs. With two quick slashes towards the ground. Symbol power is released and propels her up and over the stairs. She lands with grace and barrels towards towards Antonio. He tries to brace himself, but she topples him off of his feat. She lands on top of him with both of her tensen pointed at his neck. Antonio clicks the timer to stop it.

"One minute and thirty three seconds, amiga. Nice job!" Antonio exclaims. Before me I can reply, the two Rangers hear someone clapping slowly behind them. Return to find Jayden and the others all morphed up, plus Ji, Cam, and Terry with motorcycle helmets on, standing, watching up on the top of a ramp. With ease, Jayden and Kevin slide down the ramp and stand in front of the duo.

"I should have known you two weren't fishing," Jayden glibly states, "You want back on the team? Then you'll have to earn it." With that, he pulls out his katana from its sheath. Antonio climbs up the ramp to meet the others.

Mia flips open her tensen and calmly replies, "Then let me."


	15. The Duel

**A/N: I know people want shipping, but I stink at writing romance. I have a plan, and I think that y'all will like it. Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed my work! I appreciate the time you take to give me your thoughts about my story! I hope you like this chapter. Don't forget to review and enjoy!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. **

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"So," Mia asks, "Who's first?"

Jayden and Kevin pull out their katanas in unison and reply, "Both."

"Antonio!" Mia calls out, "I'm betting three minutes tops!"

He sets the timer for three minutes and counts down, "Three...two...one...GO!"

The three rangers collide in a whirlwind of color. The clash of Jayden and Kevin's katana and Mia's tessen fall into a rhythm of clang, clang, clang. Mia quickly maneuvers her chair and blocks oncoming attacks with grace while simultaneously ramming her chair into her opponents like a bull. Jayden and Kevin dodge out of the way of her chair with centimeters to spare.

Suddenly, Kevin breaks the rhythm and runs up one of the skate ramps in the park. He whips out his hydro bow and begins shooting down at Mia as she continues to spar with Jayden with deadly accuracy. Mia deflects a few of his shots with her tessen, and then shoots a blast of air out of her left tessen at Jayden while shooting air out of her right at the ground to stabilize herself. She sends him flying across the skate park. Then, using her tessen to propel herself, she rockets up the skate ramp at an unsuspecting Kevin, who continues to shoot at her. When she reaches the top, she grabs onto the edge of the ramp and knocks Kevin down with her chair. She rolls to the center of the skate park with her tessen out defensively. Jayden nods to Kevin as he painfully gets up. At the same time they charge at Mia, but the moment their weapons collide they transport to the woods.

"We knew you would be fine in the skatepark, but we also have to be able to maneuver in other terrains that are less wheelchair friendly," Jayden explains.

"Good thing I came prepared," Mia retorts. With the push of a button two push levers pop up on the sides of the chair and the front two wheels consolidate into one large wheel. Her back two tires expand to look like mountain bike tires. 

Once more their weapons clash, this time however, Mia's maneuvers widen and slow down as opposed to the sharp turns taken in the skate park. She relies more on her tessen to allow her to skip over obstacles like rocks and branches, giving her less time to use them to fight. The others take note of this and attempt to use it to their advantage. They draw closer to Mia, giving her less room to move. Recognizing this, Mia blasts the ground with her tessen, rocketing her chair above the other rangers. She then does a quick wheelie to get over a log, turns around and begins blasting the rangers with bursts of air with one tessen and blasting the ground with the other to keep her stationary, just as she had done before with Jayden. Unable to slash through air, both of the rangers get knocked on the ground. Grabbing Jayden by the arm, Kevin powers through Mia's blast and when their weapons make contact, the rangers transport to the beach.

"So, I hear the beach is a wheelchair user's worst nightmare?" Kevin chides, "Let's see how your air blasts work in the sand."

One more push of the button expands the wheels even more so that they can work on the sand. As the rangers flight, Mia works twice as hard to push her chair than before, and her previous jumping strategy only kicks up more sand. Noticing this, she begins to use her air to create a fog of sand so that the rangers above her can not see her. Using her lower height to her advantage, Mia creeps under the sand cloud and attacks the rangers at their legs, ramming into them with all of her might. As the sand settles, Jayden whips out his fire smasher. Mia takes a direct his and flies into the ocean. Panicking, she thrashes about with her tessen. Unable to figure out which way is up, Mia propels herself deeper into the water. She hits the ocean floor, and as water begins to seep into her helmet, she propels herself up and out of the water and continues to do so until she lands on dry land. Shaking and coughing, Mia de-morphs as she lays on the ground with her chair on top of her, soaked to the bone. Kevin and Jayden de-morph and run over to her.

"No offense, Kev, but I hate water," she murmurs. They pick her up and help her back into her chair.

He laughs, "None taken. I will admit, with Antonio helping you with the design, I was a little disappointed to see that you didn't build a jet ski into that thing."

"I'll put it on the wish-list," she bitterly jokes.

"Hey," Jayden says as he gently lifts her chin so she can look him in the eyes, "you did good."

"I didn't win," she mumbles.

"Well, maybe next time," Kevin soothes.

"So, I'm not back on the team?" she asks.

"I think you need a little more time," Jayden answers, "You have to iron out some of the kinks in your fighting style. You're unique style gives you an advantage, but eventually the nighlock will learn your style and you won't have that advantage will disappear." Fighting back tears, Mia nods in agreement.

"Hey," Kevin says nudging her on the shoulder, "We didn't think you would ever be a ranger again. Now we know you will." He gives her a hug, and they teleport back to the skate park, where the other rangers, Ji, Terry, and Cam, wait for the results of the duel.

"Six minutes," Antonio calls down.

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**A/N: So, this was supposed to end in a Victory for Mia, but then I could not figure out where to go from there. A little day dreaming and a couple re-writes later, I now have a plan at the expense of Mia's big win. Actually, I was watching an interview for the show, "Speechless," and the main actor, Micah Fowler (who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair) gave me the idea for the last bit of the fight. He said "Don't put me in water or I'll sink." Hmmm...**


	16. Injustice

**Disclaimer: I don't own squat.**

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The rangers mull about the Shiba house completing chores while Kevin and Mia prepare to train in the yard.

"So how do we do this?" he asks.

"Well, if I were you, I would put on some type of padding," she replies, "My fighting style is pretty much ultimate bumper cars if you really think about it." Kevin walks into another room fumbles about looking for something as Mia impatiently waits.

"Why can't we just morph?" she asks, "It's the safest way for you to train with me. My armor comes on regardless of whether or not I'm morphed."

"It uses too much symbol power," Kevin explains from the other room, "I think I found something." He walks out in a giant black suit made of thick padding that nearly doubles his size. It has a helmet and a cage in front of his eyes. Mouth wide open, Mia pulls out her samuraizer and takes a picture. "Seriously?" Kevin whines, "First Mike, now you?"

"You look ridiculous!" she laughs.

"Its an instructor's suit!" Mia rolls her eyes. With the pump of her fists her tessen and armor come out from her gloves. Kevin picks up a bokken and prepares to spar. Before he can do anything, Mia whips her chair around and knocks him on the ground. "I didn't say go," he whines. Unable to get up he flails around like an overturned turtle until he gains enough momentum to swing onto his knees.

"Just morph already!" Mia begs.

At that moment, Ji walks out. Without acknowledging Kevin or his outfit, he walks straight over to Mia. Her eyes widen and she rushes inside. Ji then takes a moment to look over at the blue ranger and laugh.

"It's an instructor's suit!" Kevin whines.

* * *

Out of her training gear and into normal clothes as fast as physically possible, Mia wheels herself down to the police station. There, she meets Mrs. MacIntire and Sammy outside.

As she tries to catch her breath Mia asks, "They caught him?"

"They said that they have a few suspects in custody and they want you and Sammy to look at some mugshots to see if you recognize anyone," Mrs. MacIntire answers. Mia nods and they all enter into the station. A young detective in a bleach white shirt, tie, and doughnut crumbs meets them in the hall.

"Mrs. MacIntire and Ms. Watanabe?" he asks. They nod and he continues, "We just recently busted a human trafficking ring. The targets were kids Sammy's age who could be sold to be raised as potential soldiers or laborers. Sammy's attempted kidnapping fits their MO. We you to look at several pictures of suspects to see if one of them is your guy."

He leads them into an office and brings them a book of photos of all of the men and women's mugshots. As they flip through pages and pages, Mrs. MacIntire points to different faces. She asks Sammy to try to see if this person resembles his attempted kidnapper, but Mia disregards each picture. Eventually, they reach the final page and Mia slams the book shut before Mrs. MacIntire can suggest another picture.

"None of them," Mia mutters.

"Are you sure?" the detective asks.

Mrs. MacIntire places a hand on Mia's shoulder and whispers, "Mia, sweetie, you had a concussion as a result of the fall. There might be a chance that you don't remember his face, or that you are remembering incorrectly. Sammy, because of you brave actions, had no head trauma. Maybe he would be a better judge of who the man was?" She reopens the book and returns to showing Sammy the pictures, but Mia slams the book shut again, this time with more force.

"The scars," she begins, "None of the men or women in these pictures have the scars. Why are we looking at these? None of them match the anything that either of us gave during our initial interviews."

"Ms. Watanabe," the detective explains, "because of your injuries you sustained in your...heroic attempts, you are no longer a credible witness. I mean come on! A seven foot tall monster of a man with scars all over his face?"

"Six and a half!"

"Does that make a difference?"

"Yes, it does!" she shouts, "I looked him in the eyes! I stared him down right before he threw me off of that bride! Sammy never got a good look at him! I made sure he didn't have to!"

"Now, we don't know that he didn't see anything," Mrs. MacIntire interjects. Handing him the books, she asks, "Here, Sammy, what about him?"

Ripping the book out of his hands, Mia yells, "Give it a rest with the book! I know what I saw. You two are not looking for the actual culprit. You are looking for a scapegoat! By locking some innocent person in a cage, you are doing the same to them as the real kidnapper intended to do to Sammy!"

"Calm down, Ms. Watanabe. You are scaring the boy," the detective goads, "Now, I think that your disability is skewing with your memory."

"Are you kidding me?" she screams, "I broke my back, not my head!"

"Listen," the detective continues, "I think you should leave this to more capable hands. Thank you for your help, but we have this under control now." In a huff, Mia storms out of the office. In the process she rolls over the detective's foot. "Gah!" he cries, "Now that, young lady is what I call assaulting an officer of the law." He grabs her arms and forces them behind the back of her chair and cuffs her.

"Mia!" Sammy cries. He runs over to her and tries to get the cuffs off to no avail. He looks up at the detective with teary eyes and begs, "Please don't take my friend." The detective brushes the boy off, and then ushers over an officer who takes her to a holding cell.

As he watches the officers lock the cell with a smug grin on his face, Mia hisses, "You are worse than the people you lock up!"

**A/N: I may or may not have written this chapter while watching a cop show...**


	17. Serial

**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.**

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"This is against my rights! I know that y'all don't think I have rights, but that constitution says I do!"

Mia glares at her cellmate and quietly pleads, "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Y'all already charged me with public indecency! That's double jeopardy!" the woman wallows.

"I hate that blasted detective!" Mia murmurs, "This is going to kill me!"

"Ms. Watanabe," a voice calls, "You have been released." Mia excitedly rolls over to the exit of the cell, only to roll back to the corner when she sees a tall woman with a detective's badge on her hip looming over her.

"I lied," she stammers, "This is going to kill me." She manages a small smile and whimpers, "Hi, mom!"

The woman opens the cell and ushers her daughter out. She then grabs the handles on Mia's chair and pushes her out of the precinct. As they pass several empty holding cells, Mia curses the detective under her breath. When they get outside her mother whips Mia's chair around and look her in the eyes with fury on her face.

"What were you thinking?" she screamed, "Assaulting an officer! You think you're life is tough now? Try adding a record to that chair and then see how tough your life is! You are lucky I was able to talk that detective into dropping the charges."

"Mom."

"No, don't 'Mom' me! You are smarter than this!" she nags, "Mia, I raised you better than this!"

"Mom!" Mia interrupts, "They were trying to lock up an innocent man."

"What?"

"Or woman," she continues, "It didn't matter to them. That dirty detective wanted a closed case, and Mrs. MacIntire wanted closure. They were going to make Sammy pick some random person just so they could have a suspect."

Detective Watanabe thinks this over for a moment, then asks,"Is that all?"

Mia sighs, "When I debated them, they said that because I'm in a wheelchair, I'm not 'mentally fit' to be a witness."

Detective Watanabe laughs, "Did you tell them that you broke you back, not your head?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said, but that detective just brushed me off," Mia explains, "I am tired of this, Mom. The bus driver is too lazy to lower the ramp, I worked for months to get better and get back in the game as a ranger, and even though I am capable, they won't let me, and now I have people questioning my intelligence?"

"That doesn't give you the right to roll over people's feet," her mom interjects.

"I know," Mia sighs, "for the past six months it's been like I'm fighting an uphill battle, but I keep falling down and I can't do anything about it." Detective Watanabe crouches down, eye level to her daughter.

"I know this is tough," she begins, "but you have to keep a level head. So you can't be a ranger right now, let's do something you can do." She opens her car door and pulls a file out of the front seat. Placing it on her daughter's lap she explains, "I looked into your description of your guy and found several cold cases matching this description. That's why I was here. How about you help me look into it?"

Mia gives her mom a giant bearhug and rolls over to the side of her mom's car. She then transfers into the passenger's seat. Detective Watanabe smiles and after putting the chair in the backseat, she hops in the car and they drive to a coffee shop where they can look over the evidence. Detective Watanabe orders the coffee while Mia finds a small table in the corner. She spreads out the different case files and examines each one.

October 28, 2008, 9:45 am, Reefside, Sterling Joseph, age seven, walking to the bus, kidnapped, 6'5" male, scarred face

November 25, 2010, 10:27 am, Amber Beach, Samantha Riggins, age six, Running errands with mother. kidnapped. 6'7" male. Possible facial burns.

August 4, 2012. 8:07 am. Briarwood. Lindsay McBride. Age six. Field trip. Kidnapped. 6'5" male. Facial deformities.

As she continues, a terrifying thought creeps its way into Mia's mind. Justin Smith. Thuong Le. Newton Noshimuri. Miku Gonzales. Nate Abbott. Her mother arrives with their coffees, but she ignores her as she flips through more files. Morgan MacElhaney. Carmen Adamson. Ian Spisak. Juan Wolter.

"Earth to Mia," her mom jokes as she slides into the seat across from Mia.

Mia looks up at her mom in shock and stammers, "You said you found a few cold cases! These are enough kids to fill a small classroom!"

"I know," she replies, "When I brought this up to my superiors back in Angel Grove, they reminded me that half of these cases are far out of my jurisdiction. They did not want to put time and resources towards a bunch of cold cases. They did not want to hear what I think."

"And that is?" Mia asks.

"I think we have a serial kidnapper on our hands."

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**A/N: Dun dun dun! What will happen next? Write your thoughts in Mr. Answerbox bellow. I have been known to PM spoilers to those who ask...**


	18. Help

**A/N: Hey! Long time no see, plus a short chapter. I hope you forgive me. Please review and Enjoy!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.**

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"So where do we begin?" Mia asks.

"With each kidnapping, a sketch artist has drawn up a composite," Detective Watanabe begins, "I have run all of them through facial recognition, with no results. That doesn't mean that he's not out there, it just means that he's not in any system that I have access to."

"So, we just need to get access to a better system," Mia muses.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

* * *

"So, what does a former ranger…"

"On medical leave, not former," Mia corrects.

"Okay, so what does a ranger on medical leave needs to use the military's facial recognition system for?" Ryan Mitchell asks, "Last time I checked, the only humanoid monster your team is fighting is Dekker, and he's already got a rap sheet in the Ranger Files"

"The Ranger what?" Detective Watanabe asks.

"The Ranger Files, Cam made a system full of information on all past enemies, rangers, and battles that a ranger gets access to once they are connected to the Morphin' grid," Mia explains, "That's how I found out that after the Lightspeed Program was shut down, Ryan began working for the government setting up the earth branch of SPD. He's currently a captain in the navy and has security clearance for a pretty expansive facial recognition system." Mia looks up at him with puppy dog eyes and is met by a smirk from Ryan.

He sighs and asks, "So, why do you need my help?"

"We are investigating a serial kidnaper," Detective Watabe answers, handing over the file. "In all of these cases, the composites drawn of the perpetrator are nearly identical, but I can't find a match in the system. These eerily similar composite sketches are our only lead so far." Ryan flips through the file, and grimaces seeing all of the faces of the kids. "Listen, I know it's not much to go off on, but..."

"I will look into it," Ryan interrupts.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he sighs, "You probably read this when you read my file, but I know a thing or two about being kidnaped."

"What makes you think I read your file," Mia asks.

"Seriously?" he laughs, "You could have asked my dad, Taylor Earhardt, or Ms. Fairweather, all of whom are higher ranking and would have easier access to the system, but you chose me. You had to have read my file to know that, unlike those aforementioned people, I would say yes." Mia leans back in her chair and gives him a mischievous grin. He pulls the composite sketches out of the file and tosses it onto her lap. He then shakes Detective Watanabe's hand, and with a nod, walks out of the room.

"That ways easy!" Mia chirps.

"Oh, just you wait," Detective Watanabe mumbles.

* * *

"Do I have to do this, Mom?" Mia whines. Her mother rolls her eyes at her daughter. "Can't I just stay with you while we investigate?"

Detective Watanabe chuckles, "What? You really thought that I was letting you off the hook for your little stunt at the precinct? You might be eighteen, and I technically can't ground you anymore, I am really good friends with someone who can."

"Come on, Mom, you know that Ji is just looking for a reason to not let me back in the game," Mia sighs, "Can I just stay with you until yesterday is off of his mind?"

"Sorry, sweety! Don't have a temper tantrum in the middle of a police precinct next time."

"It wasn't a temper, you know what? Nevermind. You are no help." Mia rolls into the dojo in a huff, only to meet Ji. As his stare burrows into her soul, Mia slinks down into her chair.

"Where were you last night, Ms. Watanabe?" he asks.

Mia stammers, "Uh, my mom wanted me to look at some cold cases that could be related to Sammy's kidnapper-to-be. I think we are going to try to solve it."

"Before that."

Mia cautiously asks, "Do you know Ryan Mitchel? He was on the Lightspeed Rescue team. He's helping us out. He's got access to a facial recognition system far better than the one that AGPD detectives have access to. That's Angel Grove Police Department, if you didn't know..."

"Mia!"

"You already know, don't you."

"Oh, you know I do! And don't think that just because you are in that chair you get out of punishment. If you can take on the rangers, you can cover the chores for the rest of the year!" he screams.

"Yes, Mentor," Mia sighs and rolls off to begin.

"Oh, and Mia," he adds. She turns to face him and holds out his hand, "Morpher." She goes back over to him and begrudgingly places it in his hands. Then, in a huff, she rolls away.


	19. Tired

**A/N: I wrote this chapter to procrastinate on my chores...ironic.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.**

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In the heat of noon, Mia scrubs the training pad with a mop. Mike wanders outside and sits on a bench in the shade, watching her, with a smug grin on his face. She glares at him, but continues her task. She turns her chair to mop the other side of the training pad, but ends up knocking over the bucket of soapy water instead.

"That's one way to clean it!" Mike jokes. Mia sighs, rolls to an easel, and draws the symbol for wind with a spare paint brush, and points it at the training pad. A gust of wind dries the pad in seconds. Without saying a word, Mia picks up the bucket and the mop, and pushes herself inside.

"What?" Mike yells, "You mess up and now you're giving me the silent treatment?"

As she wheels herself to the supply closet, she stops in the laundry room and switches Kevin's laundry from the wash to the dryer. Jayden stomps in holding a piece of pink fabric in his hands. "Seriously?" he whines, "I am not the pink ranger. I don't wear pink. This shirt, and several others, were white yesterday."

"Aside from your jeans and a couple of flannels, you only wear red and white. I have seven people's laundry to do, plus an innumerable amount of other chores. I am sorry that there was a mixup, but it's not my fault that all of your socks are red. It was inevitable." she retorts as she grabs the mop and bucket once more and pushes past him. Ji intercepts her on her way to the supply closet.

"The dishes have not been washed or put away," he announces.

"They put them in the sink, which I can't reach. I also can't reach the cabinets, and without my morpher, I can't fly the plates into their places," Mia answers.

"Figure it out," he demands. He turns and walks away without another word. Mia returns the mop and bucket to the supply closet and heads to the kitchen. She sits in front of the sink for several minutes as if she could mentally force the dishes to wash, dry, and put themselves away. She then looks at her chair and lifts herself onto one of the arm rests. Clutching the counter with her left hand, she reaches for a plate in the sink. Unbalanced, she shakily places it onto the counter, and then reaches for a second. As she places this one on the counter, her chair tips and she falls onto the ground. The plate shatters as they simultaneously land. In an attempt to sit up, she cuts her forearm on one of the shards and falls back to the ground. As Mia holds her wounded arm close, tears begin to stream down her face.

The rangers rush into the kitchen and stop when they see her. Ji pushes past the rangers with a first aid kit in hand. He gently washes her wound and then dresses it. He then tries to check to As Ji packs up the first aid kit, Mike lifts up her chair and places it away from the ceramic shards in order to prevent her wheels from popping. Jayden picks Mia up and places her in her chair.

"I...I can't do this anymore," she hics.

"It's only been a week of chores so far," Mike jokes. Emily jabs him in the stomach with her elbow.

"Nah...not that," Mia explains, "I want my le...legs back."

"Oh, Mia," Jayden sighs. He hugs her tight and she limply grips his shoulders as she sobs into his shirt.

"I'm so...so tired of the bus lady ignoring me...me because she is too lazy to lower the wheelchair ramp. I am tired of nah...not being able to go places because they don't have a ramp. I am tired of having to si...sit here and wait for you guys to get home from a fight, not be...being able to do anything to help. And I am especially tired of people treating me like a...a child just because of my chair!" Jayden holds her tighter and rubs her back, his hand disappearing and returning as it runs below and above her injury. "Cam and Terry left when I failed at the duel, that dumb detective is going to put an innocent man in jail just to close a case, and Ryan's facial recognition search came up with nothing! I am useless, worthless, and I'm so tired of all of this!"

"I think you have had a long day," Ji begins patting her shoulder. "Why don't you go lie down for a while." Jayden lets Mia slip out of his arms as Emily walks behind her. Emily grabs the handles on Mia's chair and pushes her into her room. Mia looks at her bed, then back at her arm, then leans back in her chair.

Emily sees this and asks, "Do you...um...want me to…" Mia shakes her head. Emily leans onto Mia's bed and stares at her feet. After a long moment of silence, Emily whispers, "You're not worthless."

"Hm?" Mia asks.

"You're not worthless, or useless, or anything less," Emily states, louder. "You just have to do things differently, that's all."

"It didn't hit me until Ji took my morpher away," Mia begins. "I mean, I guess I realized it a little in rehab, but at that point everything was so surreal, it was like a bad dream. Then, when I got back, I kind of had a purpose as team nurse, so I didn't think about it. When I started to, Mike, Antonio, and I began our project, so I pushed it aside. Once that got shot down, I started to notice it again, but I was training, and my mom and I decided to do a little detective work, and I forgot about it again. The moment Ji took my morpher away, it hit me like a ton of bricks."

"What hit you?" Emily asks.

"I am never going to walk again," Mia responds solemnly, "I am going to sit in this chair for the rest of my life and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it."

"So."

"So, what?" Mia asks.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Emily responds.

Bitterly, Mia laughs, "I don't know, Em. Even if they let me off chore duty, they are never going to let me be a ranger again. I should have seen that coming. Ji was just looking for an excuse to take away my morpher, and I handed him one on a silver platter. My mom wants me to help her investigate this case to get closure or something like that, and then go back home to a normal life. The funny thing is, I don't even know what a normal life is anymore."

"There are things you can do around here aside from being a ranger."

"I can't stand playing nurse," Mia sighs, "It kills me to have to wait around for you guys to come back from battle. I don't know how Ji does it."

Emily agrees, "Neither do I."

"We never did defeat Regnessap, did we?" Mia asks.

"Nope," Emily sighs, "I'd actually forgotten about him. That's the monster that started this whole mess, right?"

"One of them," Mia agrees.

"So, Mia, what are you going to do?" Emily asks once more.

"I don't know."

* * *

**A/N: Funny story about how I came up with the name Regnessap for the monster of this story. I was writing the first chapter on a plane ride and I could not think of the name for the monster. I looked around the plane for inspiration, but came up with nothing. Defeated and bored, I pulled out that little safety guide in the back of all of the seats. I read the word passenger and it hit me. Passenger backwards is Regnessap. Has no meaning whatsoever to the story, I just thought it sounded like a power rangers villain.**


	20. Hope

**A/N: Does this longer chapter make up for my previous short one? I hope so! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.**

* * *

The next day, Mia quietly mops the training pad once more after a rather tough training session for the rangers. Carefully dodging the water bucket, Mia completes her task without any spillage this time. Just as she picks up the bucket and mop to bring to the supply closet, she feels a tap on her shoulder. She turns around to see Ji, who takes the mop and bucket and places them on the ground.

"I think we have some things we need to discuss," he begins. Mia nods in agreement. Ji kneels down to eye level with Mia and continues, "A couple of the rangers might have been listening in on you and Emily's conversation yesterday afternoon, and these rangers might have brought it to my attention that your incident in the police precinct might have had more to do with you struggling to cope with your injury than actual defiance. Now, before I continue, I want to make this clear: you are not getting off the hook. Regardless of your motives, you were arrested for something that you of all people know better than to do. I do not care that the charges were droped. You and I both know that had more to do with your mother's intervention than any lack of guilt. However, you will be relieved of the chore duties that are physically impossible for you to complete. I do not need you pulling acrobatic stunts just to wash the dishes. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ji," she answers.

He sighs, "Mia, I know these past few months have been exceptionally hard for you, and I want you to know that we all care about you."

"I know you do, Ji"

"I know, I just want you to understand that we all get that you have to cope, but we will not let you loose yourself. You are a sweet girl, not a monster truck."

Mia laughs, "I know."

Ji chuckles, "Then stop acting like one." He smiles at her and continues, "In all seriousness, you were right. I did not want you to ever fight a nighlock again, and I am not planning on giving you back your morpher anytime soon. However, if you stay out of trouble and keep training, who knows what the future holds. As for the cold cases, I think that would be a far more fruitful use of your time. Just because the facial recognition search came up blank, that does not mean that you won't find him. As far as I know, you are the only person looking for these kids. You can't give up on them like everyone else has."

"I won't."

"And Mia," he adds, "You are not useless or worthless. You are one of the most valuable members of this team. Whether you realized it or not, you have always been the backbone of this team, providing reassurance and helpful advice to the others when needed. If you need someone to be strong for, be strong for them. They will fall apart if you don't. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ji."

"Now get back to work. As I remember it, you have five more people's laundry to complete, bokken that need polishing, and exactly six suits of armour that need dusting," he demands as he walks away.

Mia smiles to herself and says, "Yes Ji." She then heads off to complete her work.

* * *

Later that day, after all of the laundry sits in its respective drawers, all of the bokken shine, and all of the suits of armour stand dust free, Mia sneaks into the shed with her cello. On the wall she tacks up all of the photos of the children, the sketches of the man with the scarred face, and note cards with any relevant information scrawled on them. Mia then connects all of the information with various colored string: green for fact and red for supposition. She mostly uses the red string. Mia logs into her computer with the file of the missing children in her lap. She searches each child's name, his or her hobbies, family, friends relatives, but aside from their close age, can not find a single similarity. She then pulls out her phone and dials up each police station that investigated each case.

"Hello, Amber Beach Police Department? My name is Mia Watanabe, I am investigating the kidnapping of Samantha Riggins."

"Yes, sir, I know the Sterling Joseph case is closed."

"I was wondering I could talk to Detective Schiffiano. I read that he was the head detective on the Juan Wolter case."

"Sir, if I could just have a moment of your time. I just want to ask you about Ian Spi...Hello? Is anyone there?"

After calling each precinct to no avail, Mia looks at the list of family members, and then down at her watch. It reads 3:39 a.m.

"I won't give up on you guys," Mia mumbles to herself as she reads the first number and begins to dial.

* * *

Mia sighs as she pulls a giant trash bag up onto her lap. Breathing only through her mouth and leaning back as far as she can in her chair, Mia pushes as fast as she physically can to complete this chore. As she slams the trash bag into the can, her phone begins to ring. Not recognizing the number, she takes the call anyways.

"Hello?" she asks.

"Uh, hi," the voice answers. "My name is Sam. I heard you were investigating the Sterling Joseph case. I might have some information that could help you."

"Yes!" Mia exclaims. Then, regaining her composure, "Uh, do you want to give me your information now, or do you want to meet somewhere?"

"Well, I would rather discuss this face to face, but I am on a business trip right now in Panorama, so I won't be back down in Reefside for a couple of days," he answers.

"That is great!" she replies, "I live in Panorama. If we could meet when you get a chance."

"I will be free during my lunch break, from 12:30 to 2:00. Do you know any good places to eat?" he asks.

"Let's meet at the coffee shop at the corner of Welsh and Barber. We should be able to speak privately there," she answers.

"It's a date! Wait, not really a date, more like a meeting, or maybe an interview, I don't know!" he rambles.

Mia laughs, "I will see you then!" Mia then zooms inside to tell Ji about her lead. After he permits her to leave for the afternoon, she goes into her shed and picks up the file. She flips through it until she gets to the Joseph case. "Sam is the older step-brother of Sterling," she mutters to herself. She flips the case file shut, shoves it into her bag and heads to the coffee shop.

* * *

At exactly 12:30, Mia sips a cup of coffee at the same table her mom had taken her to introduce her to the case. As she looks around the room, a tall, well-built Marine saunters into the coffee shop. He flips out his phone and dials a number. A few seconds later, Mia's phone rings.

"Hello?" Mia asks, "Are you the young Marine that just walked in the shop."

"No, I am not a Young Marine," he replies, "I am a Marine. But yes, I am the dashing lad in uniform that just walked in. Private First Class Samuel Watson."

"Well, aren't you full of yourself," she jokes, "Me, not so much. I'm the cripple in the corner." Shocked, Sam turns to face Mia, who just waves at him from her chair. "Close your mouth Sweetie, or flies will get in," Mia chastises.

Sam stammers, "I...I am sorry, I just did not expect…"

"The chair?" she interrupts, "Yeah, no one does. Go order yourself a coffee and something to eat, then come and sit down." She hangs up the call and pulls out a pen and notepad from her bag. Sam orders his food, and then sits down.

"Ms. Watanabe, I presume," he asks, holding out his hand.

"You can call me Mia," she replies, shaking his hand. "Well, while I would love to know all about what kind of a business the meeting brought a military man to Panorama, a place where the closest thing a person can get to a military base is the movies, we have some work to do, now don't we."

"I couldn't agree more, however, before you ask me any questions, I need to ask you one." Sam begins, "For some reason, when my mother received your call this morning, she was under the impression that you were a cop. Seeing that that is not the case, I want to know why you are so interested in my brother's kidnapping. If you are some reporter looking to get a good story, then you and I have both wasted our time."

"Well, I can assure you that neither of us have wasted our time. I am not a reporter, or a cop for that matter. I am actually a chem major at Panorama Tech." Mia answers.

"Why is a college student investigating a kidnaping case," Sam asks.

"My mother is a detective in Angel Grove, and she was looking into several cold cases in various cities in this region, including your brother's. She thinks that they might be related."

"That doesn't answer my question," Sam snaps.

"You didn't let me finish," Mia counters, "One of these cold cases was an attempted kidnapping. A kidnapping which I stopped, and resulted in me being stuck in this chair. I might not have lost a family member, but I lost a lot."

"What makes you think that it is the same guy?" Sam asks.

Mia slides all of the composite sketches over to Sam and replies, "Because in every case, the descriptions of the kidnapper are all so similar. I looked into this man's eyes. I can tell you that each of these sketches are dead on."

"Okay, I'll bite. Did you run these through facial recognition?"

"FBI, CIA, all local databases, and military," Mia answers.

"Not a single hit?" he asks. Mia shakes her head.

"He's smart," she sighs, "He's been doing this for a while. I think that he is just the muscle. No one reported seeing him before the kidnapping, but there had to be someone scouting these kids. I think there is at least another person involved, one that could blend in better in order to select the victims, learn their schedules, and plan the hit."

"Then, Scarface would come in and execute the plan?"

"Yep. That's why I need your help. Do you know if Sterling had a new teacher in school, if your mom or step-dad had any new coworkers, if Sterling have a nanny or a new babysitter, or really if any new people were around your family?" she asks.

Sam shakes his head and replies, "I was away at military school when it happened. My late father and grandfather both went to this military high school and I wanted to follow in their footsteps. But I will ask my mom."

"Thank you," Mia replies, "I can't promise you that I will find him, but I can promise you that I will not stop looking until I find you closure."

Sam sighs, "Thank you for that little sliver of hope."


End file.
